A Father

The following was read at my Dad's memorial service three years ago. I just found it and wanted to share again... There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about Dad and wish I could have had one more day with him.

A Father by Henry Paul Harvey

A father is a thing that is forced to endure childbirth without anesthesia ... A father is a thing that growls when it feels good... and laughs loud when it's scared half to death.

A father never feels worthy of worship in a child's eyes. He's never quite the hero his daughter thinks ... never quite the man his son believes him to be and that worries him sometimes... so he works too hard to try to smooth the rough places in the road for those of his own who will follow him.

A father is a thing that gets very angry when the first school grades aren't as good as he thnks they should be. He scolds his son... though he knows it's the teacher's fault.

Father's are what gives daughters away to other men who aren't nearly good enough ... so they can have grandchildren who are smarter than anybody's.

Father's make bets with insurance companies about who will live the longest. One day the lose... and bet is paid off to the part of them they leave behind.

I don't know... where a father goes... when he dies. But I've an idea that after a good rest... wherever it is... he won't just sit on a cloud and wait for the girl he's loved and the children she bore... He'll be busy there, too... repairing the stairs... oiling the gate, improving the streets... smoothing the way.