I talk a lot about how close my mom and I are. From the secrets I can tell her to the advice I seek from her on a nearly daily basis, it's easy to tell people about how much she means to me. We practically share a face so it's not uncommon for people I don't know to approach me when I am home and ask me if I am her daughter. She has taught me so much about the woman I want to be and I am so thankful for all that I have learned from her. However, so much of who I am is because of the man my father is.

I learned plenty from my dad. No crying in baseball, how to use a circular saw, and the art of making a joke during the most inappropriate times. However, the true testament of how close I am to my father is found in his sayings and mannerisms that I find myself doing all the time. More importantly, though, I have a pillar to lean on when it feels like I am carrying the weight of the world because my father knows that weight too. He has been so steadfast through my childhood and as my siblings have grown up, that it wasn't until I began my struggles with anxiety that I learned the extent of my connection with my father. Even now that I am away at college a call to my dad will make the sometimes overwhelming feat of just getting through my week seem so much easier.

My father's catch phrase to get me through whatever is stressing me out has always been "It's going to be a good life". When I was younger, this saying was a bandaid that patched me together about whatever it was that I was having a meltdown about. As I got older my dad's mantra become more of a reality as he helped me transition into adulthood and gave me the tools to make a good life for myself.

So this good life that I am leading is owed to the man who taught me how. He keeps his head down, provides with little appreciation, and worries silently to avoid upsetting the rest of us. A thank you to the dad that doesn't ask for one, I love you bud.