Hi friends, happy Monday. I can’t believe Father’s Day is right around the corner. It feels like we just celebrated Mother’s Day and here we are a week away from celebrating our dads. Father’s Day is one of my favorite holidays because we get to spoil our dads and our husbands a little extra than we usually do. To me, my dad is the person I most look up to in life. I am definitely similar to him in more than one way. I tell stories just like him, I see a lot of life in the same way he does, and I get nostalgic about EVERYTHING too. We all have our own special memories of our dads that we will never forget, and I want to share some of my own with you. Maybe you can get a good laugh out of them, or maybe they will remind you of your own childhood memories.
What are some of your earliest memories with your dad? Like those good feel memories that you will tell your kids one day? Some of my earliest memories of my dad are of him helping me do my homework in kindergarten. I remember just like it was yesterday, and I have no idea how I remember every detail so clearly, but I do. I was their first-born child, and I get so emotional remembering the patience my dad had every single night while helping me do my homework. My parents were not English speakers back then, and I did not understand it, speak it, or write English either. Honestly, I have no idea what any one was saying the first few weeks of kindergarten. LOL. All I knew before then was Spanish. I remember homework one particular night when the assignment was to connect a spider’s web using math equations. We didn’t even understand the instructions on the page. I remember us winging it for a good hour, and us feeling so achieved for successfully connected the dots. I could see my dad trying so hard to explain to me what he thought the english instructions were, but he never left me alone. He never showed if he was frustrated or if he wanted to give up. He stuck it out until we thought we figured it out. Slowly as I learned more and more English, I was able to explain to him what words meant, and you bet our homework nights got easier. Before my mom and dad started their own business, my mom used to work weekends, and my dad would have weekends off and stay with me and my siblings. I have core memories of him doing our hair (It was a side ponytail for me always because I had the long, curly hair) and he would dress us all up in our Sunday best, and we would head to the park. We would always grab some Dollar star burgers from Carl’s Jr back when they were one dollar and a large family sized coke. No electronics, no social media. Just us. We would spend all day at the park until the sun went down, and it was time to go pick up mom. Best days ever. Nothing beat those good ol days.
Dad hates my driving story.
I also have now wonderful memories of him calmly losing his patience while teaching me to drive at 16 years old. Scared out of his soul because I almost hit a car in front of me or didn’t listen to him telling me to come to a complete stop. 16 year old me lets go of the steering wheel to grab my face and show him how disastrous it was to my life that he was being so unfair and timing my stops. Even though it wasn’t funny to me or him back then, I will admit he was right. I wasn’t paying attention, and yes, I didn’t come to a complete stop, and yes my foot slipped off the pedal. At 16, I swore I would never drive him anywhere, but guess what? A few years ago, I gave him a ride while his car was being serviced and I nervously drove the rest of the way home as he pointed out my stop at the last stop sign was not a full stop. Some things will never change.
How did we get so lucky with my dad?
My dad was there for all 6 births! He was always a hands-on dad in the kitchen and household all the time. He always showed us that a man definitely belongs in the kitchen and in the household helping out. My husband is the same as my dad and I admire them so much for it ❤️ Honestly, I see funny reels on Instagram of hispanic intoxicated fathers, and how harsh Hispanic fathers were growing up and I don’t relate. We just never saw that from our dad or see that now from him. We have so many memories of him spoiling mom and us, and to this day, he still does. He never missed or has missed a moment in our life. My dad’s biggest triumph in life has been being a father to us and guiding us to be good people. We see him ❤️ He is the person people come to for a hand, for advice, for a good talk. He has the best stories of growing up. He has the best memories of not having anything in life to having something. He was so poor growing up and he tells his stories with so much pride and inspiration of accomplishing his dreams. He is humble. He believes that life is about being knocked down and getting up, being thankful, loving your family HARD. He is a true success story of living the American dream.
My dad also taught me the value of working hard. I remember cleaning with him as young as 13 years old. My dad owns his commercial and residential janitorial company and every single weekend I would go along with him and help him clean. Changing out trash, vacuuming, bathrooms, cleaning counters, mopping, dusting to some of the biggest offices in SLO. I CAN DO IT ALL. I used to love the ride back home around when we were almost done. We always stopped at a gas station, and I could get chips and a drink. That was the best reward ever. He didn’t even have to pay me anymore, LOL. He would pay me but most importantly when I was in high school, that was also my ticket to hang out with my friends lol. If I went to help him out, I was allowed to go out. I was taught we had to help out in order to receive. When I was 15, I got my first job and I had so much pride in my first job. I still do to this day for every single job Ive had. I definitely got my dad’s work ethic. ❤️
I know some of us are early shoppers for Father’s day and some are last minute shoppers. What do you get your dads to show appreciation this father’s day? I rounded up some ideas that would be great for Father’s day and can still get here in time just in case you hadn’t gotten anything yet. Whatever your plans may be this coming weekend, my biggest hope is that you are able to spend time with your fathers if you are able too, tell them you love them, hug them tight and cherish that time with them while you have them ❤️
Father’s Day 2-day shipping Ideas ❤️
Csy-Lux 
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