Thanks Dad

Today is Father’s Day. I’ve been lucky to have a great father, a great example to follow.

We are very different. We’ve been born in different times and we look at the world from very different perspectives. But I’ve found myself finding Him in many words I pronounce, in the way my hand moves on the sunlight while fixing the car. Every time I paint a wall. Every time I talk to a customer. In how my shadow is projected on the floor when I walk under the sunlight.

He’ll be forever part of me, and despite being thousands of miles away physically, his presence is permanent. Despite our differences, I have no doubts of his unconditional, boundless love. I feel the same for my own children.

He’s taught me many things. I learnt to paint, to fix things, to mow the lawn, to oil a bike, to change a tire. To “figure things out”. To “leave things better than I received them”. To appreciate nature. To be compassionate. To travel and expose yourself to new adventures.

But above everything, he’s given me one gift that only recently I’ve come to appreciate and understand. The gift of never giving up. No matter how difficult a situation is, now matter how unsurmountable an obstacle might seem: you are not dead until you are dead. Battles can be lost, but wars are won by those who never surrender. Those who look beyond, work hard, and have a deep belief in themselves.

And he taught me that in the best possible way: through his own example. Thanks Dad.