I figured that, with Father’s Day just around the corner, it would be appropriate for me to tell you why you’re such a great man and a great father.

To this day, I’m still awed by how much work both mom and yourself had to do to raise all 10 of us. Though I am the youngest, there was never a time that I heard either one of you bitch because you had too much to do. Nor did I ever see either one of you ever lay an angry hand on any of us,(how I don’t know) instead letting us learn from any mistakes that we might’ve made.

As for me, I am so grateful that our relationship has gotten so much stronger through the years. Even though I now fondly remember the many minor-league games that you took me to in Bristol and Waterbury, I was a kid then and don’t believe that I quite understood how important it was for you and I to have a healthy relationship. Of course, now I do.    Now I believe that is because you were always a very willing man whose able to take the good with the bad, willing to talk to me, to us about most anything, important or not.

After Mom passed away, you stepped in, helping each and every one of us grieve even as you dealt with your own horrible grief. But you picked yourself up and moved on…..though I was hardly surprised. Though we were adults at that time, you were(and still are) our friends, dad, and not all kids are fortunate enough to have the man that he raised them as a close, trusted friend. But we were and still are all very lucky.

Thank you,sir, and have a super Fathers Day tomorrow dad. I love you!