There are 2 very special Dad's I would like to honor today.............

One is my Dad, John who is no longer with us. Dad was a hard worker. For a number of years he worked two jobs, which helped fund our many, many years of camping.

I can remember that on Thursday nights he got paid from his part-time job, and he'd stop on the way home and get Jreck Subs. They were SOOOOO good in those days.

I've had them in past years and they just aren't as good.

Of course, what is?

My Dad was in the National Guard in high school and for several years after. I can remember when I was little that he could do push-ups and clap in between every one!

He would get on the floor and play lincoln logs with us. Why I remember that, I don't know.

When I was a defiant teenager, he often would save my butt. Because he and my mom worked, once my sister moved out, I had to do quite a bit of the cleaning and cooking. Dad would get home an hour or so before mom.

He would gently knock on my bedroom door and remind me to get the dishes done. Of course, I was like, "Yeah in a minute."

15-20 minutes later, I would hear Dad starting the dishes. I would run out and get to work. He obviously figured out this would work!

When Golden Child was born, my husband (now ex) and I decided to move to Oregon where two of his brothers lived. We sold everything, and were ready to go.

Wow, writing this is making me cry like I did in the following story, although not nearly as bad :-)

The day before we left, I stopped by Mom and Dad's to say good-bye to Dad. I was stopping by moms work after.

We talked for a little while when Dad suddenly  said, "Just go- you're making me cry."

Tearfully I said good-bye and left. About 2 miles down the road, I was crying soooo hard, I had to pull into a parking lot and compose myself.

The good news is, my husband decided after a year in Oregon that he no longer wanted to be married. I guess Oregon woman are better :-)

So I eventually said "Ok, see you." And came back to New York, where I got to spend more than 10 years with my Dad before he passed away.

Speaking of defiant teenagers, you know how there are certain things you did as a kid that your parents never let you forget?

When I was a teen either my sister or I put a hole in the screen of our bedroom window so we could smoke and have somewhere to blow the smoke...

Yes, I know I'm perfect now....but I wasn't then!

Also, I wrote Mike & Carolee on my bedroom ceiling.

Dad would bring them up now and then. AND remind me the writing is STILL on the ceiling! I think they fixed the screen.

Um....my brother moved into that room after I left. Obviously, he liked my decor!

There is so much more I could say about my Dad, but I have to get to the next great Dad.

Anyway, Happy Fathers Day, Dad. You are greatly missed.

The next great Dad is Ron, my hard working, humerous yet sometimes crochety old man.

Like my Dad he is a great worker. He knows there aren't any hand-outs in life.

When he was with his boys Mom, he often had to take over the parenting when he wasn't working. His ex was bipolar and just couldn't care for the kids sometimes.

He worked 3rd shift at the time and would get home, wake the kids up for school and drive them down to the bus stop and let the kids sit in the van to keep warm. Usually he ended up with several kids!

Eventually he and his ex broke up and he got custody of the boys. He became the community Dad to all the boys in the neighborhood (ironically most didn't have their Dads in their lives). On weekends he made breakfast for all these kids- sometimes 6 or 7 who weren't even his.

When we started dating, we did alot of family type stuff together since we both had kids PLUS all the tag-a-long kids. We would go to the races and bring like 10 kids!

Over the years our kids were in baseball, football and basketball every year. For a while, we had THREE boys playing all these sports!

Back then Ron was on 2nd shift, so I ran kids to practice and games during the week, and the whole family went to games every Saturday (2 games) and Sunday (only 1 game!).

We've had our struggles- mainly in the beginning with his ex and the kids. Neither wanted Ron and I together. The ex wanted Ron back. So did the kids, although they didn't necessarily want their mom . They wanted Dad, alone- to themselves.

But we have muddled through it all. Our song is Shania Twains "Looks like we made it". Sometimes I hear that and get emotional.

Here's a pic of Grandpa Ron & Little Man (Grandson) this morning: