I am just going to put it out there, my dad is spectacular.
I have been very lucky to have been showered in love and affection continuously through out my life because my Dad is not just a man who is related to me, my dad has always and still encourages me to critically think for myself and allows me to make small mistakes. He helped me discover my thirst for knowledge and endeavoured to teach me, such as the answer AND the method for that horrible maths equation that all the kids could do. So that I learnt that anything can be explained and understood if you take the time that you need. He taught me how to tie my shoe laces (Bunny ears and all), so that I could be independent and stand on my own two feet. He taught me not to listen to the whispers and the jibes of others and appose this negativity by singing the praises of others and of myself. He taught me that you can spend a lot of time doing what you don’t like in life so take the risk at doing something you do love, and not to be broken down when you fall because you can always get back up.
I love my dad because he lead by example, when he was young he dreamt of a life far beyond his current means and he strived to reach it. He began as a teenager by making and selling his own ice cream and cold melon slices on the beach in Wales. He then bravely left home at 17 on an apprenticeship as a technical author, he took a home study course on computers and taught himself how to weave magical codes and solve cryptic problems with unusual algorithms. He worked hard to build a business from scratch which then magnificently developed when he extended it to his new family, Mum joined him in the business after two years and later they both encouraged my siblings and I to work our way through the ranks at the bottom. My first job for them was as a cleaner, and it was one of the best lessons they taught me, I understand it can be therapeutic, but when I first started work someone had the trots and had a messy aim and it put me off for life. But I have lived with my dad, I have watched him come in exhausted from working on my birthday, to a church hall full of children, but he managed to smile and re-energise himself for our special days, dancing and throwing me in the air! I have seen him when the computers have crashed and all seems lost, but he rises like a phoenix out of the catalytic carnage and solves the problem.
But he has also been the father who helped clean my cuts and grazes after bicycle and pogo stick accidents, the father who took me to early pre-exam ballet class on Sunday mornings where he learnt how to tie ballerina buns so sensationally that the other mums, who originally laughed at his poor creations, got him to do the hair on examination day, I couldn’t be prouder haha. He was also the father that bought my first music book, and drove me to my first lesson and from then on every drive was a pep talk, even now when I am far from home I get managerial encouraging texts and I love them. He was also my first knight in shining armour and has been there for me when my heart is broken or for those moments when I need a cuddle. But beware boys, he is a second dan black belt now in karate and is quite efficient at making sure this doesn’t happen very often. haha
I love you Dad and I am sorry that I’m not at home this father’s day, but you mean the world to me!
Whilst putting this together I was reading the messages coming in on my Twitter and I would like to share these two with you. the first was a message from
CharityBooster@boost4charity :
Happy Fathers Day to all the wonderful dads out there, including the ones who have our hearts in heaven! Gone but never forgotten! 
The second was a video from Peter@yvrblogger which is very moving “We Rise Again”
Ps a big thank you to my brother Tom for helping with the header poster, I always knew your graphic design skills were going to come in handy after you A*’d your graphics exam 🙂
