- I love my family,
- My dad passed away in 2005,
- I'm a total sap.
But today is Father's Day and what better way to honor my dad than a blog post? I'm sure he'd be proud...actually he probably wouldn't even know how to access my blog with out a well drawn or written set of instructions.
So here we go, when my dad first passed I thought that the best days to be sad about how he wasn't with us anymore were holidays, especially his birthday and Father's Day and the anniversary of the accident. Well, I don't really think that anymore. I miss my dad everyday but I try not to be too sad about it because I don't think he would want that. And usually the days that I miss him the most are random days that may or may not be close to his birthday or Father's Day or any thing of the sort. But mostly I miss him everyday.
So here's a little bit about the man that contributed to the reason I'm here, John Jay Bodnar.
He was the hardest worker I've ever known.
He worked all the time when I was a kid, I mean he did own a business but I always kind of hated how often he worked. I'm glad he did though because I have a pretty good work ethic and I attribute that to him.
But he also made time for his family.
I fondly remember patiently waiting after returning from church on Sunday mornings for dad to get home in the summer time because we always went out on the boat and my mom would make the best lunch meat sandwiches with what I thought of as "special cheese", it was Munster but it wasn't something we always had in the house. When we got older we got a pool and the boat outings weren't as frequent but he still came home early and we would hang out by the pool.
He's the reason I love roller coasters.
When I go to an amusement park I head straight for the roller coasters and it's all because of my dad. I remember going to Cedar Point when I was like 10 and being super upset because I wasn't tall enough for the "big" coasters yet. I then proceeded to crack my head open and I couldn't ride any rides. But now I ride them all, my first trip to an amusement park after he passed I bawled my eyes out because he wasn't there to ride them with me but I did take my first ride on the Phantom's Revenge at Kennywood with him and I'll always cherish that.
He was always there to help me with school.
Now my dad wasn't my go to person for homework help (that was mom) but when I had a project that required building something he was there. I remember him basically building a bird house for me in 2nd grade, I think I hammered in one nail but that was about it. And in 8th grade he and my mom helped me build a roller coaster at the last minute for science class, I got a 100%.
I could go on and on, I have so many memories of him teaching me things or doing things with me that this post could go on for days but I have to stop somewhere so here I'll recap some of my fondest.
He taught me how to ride a bike with no training wheels.
I'm sure it was a painful process because I was very adamant that I needed to be taught right at that moment because my older friends didn't have training wheels.
We used to ride bikes together on the trail.
To this day when I go there (which isn't often) I stop for an extra minute at a place that we stopped for a break. It wasn't meaningful then but it is now.
We used to eat oreos and watch cartoons together.
My mom always hated the cartoons we watched but that's what probably made it so fun to do.
He taught me how to drive a 4-wheeler.
Then I wrecked and stopped riding 4-wheelers.
He used to put me to sleep on the lawn mower.
Now I don't really remember this but there are enough pictures and videos for me to know that this happened.
I think I'll stop there. In short, I have a lot of memories of my dad that I'll cherish forever. And now as I'm making new memories I sometimes hate that he's not here but I always remind myself that at least I had him for a little while.
I love and miss you Dad!
So to all those dads out there, including my own, Happy Father's Day!
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