What kind of father do you have?

Mine is pretty stellar. He is pretty straight edge, no drinking, drugs, gambling or adultery. He is a successful entrepreneur who does a ton of charity work and is held in the highest esteem by a ton of people.

Ran the marathon when he was 40 (not a runner and trained for 5 weeks).
Did a Triathlon when he was 50.
Climbed Mt Kilimanjaro when he turned 60.
Ran the Marathon again this year when he turned 70.

He is on about 10 non-profit boards and gives away more than half of what he takes out of our business as salary.

Also happens to have a pretty nice house. Renovated farm house with 10 acres, an indoor swimming pool and tennis courts.

He does risk way too much in business and carries a ton of debt (he always has). Most people couldn't sleep at night with the debts he's had over his life. Our business has started to really take off and he's considering selling our largest division for a pay day but he still wants to run the business and launch our new product line.

Incredibly energy and is super nice to everyone (I don;'t know how he does it) but sometimes gets really impatient with his wife (2nd wife, not my mother). He and my mother are still really close.

In our business is definitely the big-picture guy. Not a lot of quantifiable skills (he did graduate fro Wharton before joining the army for a couple of years and leaving as a Captain). Then he worked for Gillette for 19 years and ran Gillette Japan where he lived with my mom for two years before I was born. He's not good with computers but he seems to make it work.

He has faults too. He is so miserably optimistic that sometimes he can't see the downside to certain plans and he tends to repeat his points over and over in a discussion and this drives me crazy.

Soon after starting his business he had 10 Million dollars in bank debt. I was a teenager and I remember a team from the bank coming over to asses our house in case they needed to take it. He didn't declare bankruptcy though and paid his creditors and survived. I think he slept like a baby every night during this too. He always looks on the bright side. I can't comprehend his attitude as I am a confirmed pessimist and cynic.

He's just shy of 5'5" and is still in great shape and swims everyday. He travels the world and seems to love to travel. I think part of it is to get away from his wife, but hey. . .He's really taught me the value of business travel where before I thought everything could be done with email and phones. He was right about being face to face with customers ans suppliers.

He knows a ton of people who respect him but he doesn't have more than one or two close friends. I'm probably his best friend.

What's your Dad like?

sound's ike every kid's ideal dad. i esp admire his kindness in his charity work. alot of people are way to selfish or greedy to even think about donating a dime toward's any cause....my dad was a man who worked many hour's as a skilled trades electrician for gm.7 day's a week, 12 hrs a day for 30 yrs. very few vacation's until he retired. i have 2 brother's and 5 sister's, so 'work' may have been his place to have some of his 'alone' time. any and all charity work or donation's was all done by my mother, a stay at hm mom. my pop's loved to watch sport's or just listen to the game's on the radio while alway's finding somthing to work on around the house. i used to hate it when he would make me help him work on his 'project's' while a good game was on tv. the older he got the more he could care less about the sport's world, he believed that they were all way over paid. this was alway's a good debate between him and i. it took me a few yrs to appreciate the time we spent together working on the many different home's we lived in. after getting out of the military i realized how much i loved carpentry and after working for a few other companies i started my own home imp business. might of never done it if it wasn't for him making me help him when i was younger. i love the sale's challenge of the business and competing w other contractor's for the job. your dad was ABSOLUTELY correct about being face to face w a client instead of using a phone or computer. my dad died 3 day's before i got married and held my daughter once. at time's it still hurt's, but w his battle w lung cancer and watching the pain he was suffering, it was best that he passed the way he did and in the place he had wished for, home in his own bed after falling asleep....i feel for all of those who never had the chance to know their own father, somthing i used to take for granted....

Had a great dad. Didn't have him long enough. He passed away suddenly in December of 2007 from a stroke at the age of 64. He was healthy, never drank or smoke. Hard working man who was married to my mom for 40 years and they never argued in front of me or separated. As a matter of fact he never even cursed in front me. Crazy that I make up for his lost time of cursing and drinking..lol. But I miss him a lot. I just got to the point where having a family of my own and raising kids that I was able to appreciate all he did for me and my siblings. I get jealous when I see men who are 40+ years that are still lucky enough to have their dad in their lives. Cherish your parents while you still have them. The wisdom and guidance no matter how old you are is irreplaceable. So many times in years that have followed since his passing I wish I could call him up and ask him what he would do in certain scenarios.

cop, worked alot of weird shifts. coached my ballteam a few years. gambled, drank, had affairs, involved in all kinds of shady favors due to his job....

ok guy but i dont trust him whatsoever.....and our relationship is merely superficial shit like horses, gambling and finance

Mine passed also. Served in WWII, Korea and 3 tours in Vietnam. Wish I would have known him better but he was often off serving his country. Got to see him most often base hopping across the country. Cheers Dad.

he was an orphan, joined the Navy at age 17 and served for 21 years.

He was a good, hard working and honest man. He helped set the table for his children to have more.

RIP dad, love ya

My father is the epitome of the American Dream. He came to this country in 1967, worked for the same company for over 30 years, eventually being an owner. Ive learned alot from him that you cant learn in any text book. He is now and always will be my hero.

I dont think I will ever be as good of a father as he has been

My dad was a very demanding person. He was a Marine, did two tours of combat as a company commander. Everything that you did, and I mean EVERYTHING had to be top notch or he would treat you like you were a Marine recruit. I was born in 1957 so Marines were allowed to be tough on recruits, not this girly-man bs that the DemoCong have insisted on morphing our military into.

My father instilled in all of us kids the ability to work very hard and provide for yourself. I am glad that he did this.

All the time that I was growing up I resented my father because I did not understand what he was doing. When I was in my early 30s I realized how blessed I am to have such a great man as a father.

My dad passed away a few years ago and we all miss him terribly.

a very good dad..smart and successful.... he was always in school getting better to provide for us... he is my hero

I am so lucky to have my Dad still doing well at age 87. He is an honest hard-working man...never told a lie in his life. He quit smoking about 40 years ago, never drank much, but he loved to gamble. A big horse racing guy, owned a couple of horses in the 80's and 90's at what used to be called Waterford Park in WVA (now called Mountaineer). He knows a hell of a lot about the ponies. A huge NFL fan, too. My kids adore him. He and my mom had a rough marriage though, it seemed...they were married for over 40 years and didn't get along, but wouldn't even think of divorce since they were Catholic. He didn't mess around, I never knew what the real problem was between them. They are both 100% Italian. He was mild mannered, while my mom had crazy energy up until she died at the age of 81 three years ago. Overall, a great person and father...took me to a LOT of baseball, football and hockey games when I was a kid. I am lucky.

My dad is pretty awesome. We watch sports together, the guy loves to bbq and eat. Occasionally drink a beer together. Very hard worker even still to this day and he has a heart of gold. Someone I have always been able to count on. Couldnt ask for a better role model

My Dad was Ward Cleaver and my Mom was June Cleaver. My Dad came home every night. My Mom watched us after we got home from school so she was tired of us by the weekend so my Dad would take us to all sorts of different places around the area.

My parents were pretty strict about what we should do but they were always joking around. My Dad especially would tell jokes all the time. He always had "a million dollar idea" but never followed through with them. He was always thinking of new ways of doing things.

My relation with my father was mostly based on money money money money.......He was the first to get me to gamble when I was young, to young for that matter. Love was never there, just that money could make all the pain go away. Wish I never did gamble. My father was and still is able to because he said he can afford it, but that does not make it right. He always blames me for my failed relations and so on. His choice of ladies were very very bad, except for my mother. She left my father some 30+ years ago. Never did he give me positive attitude. I can not change what had happened. I'm blessed at my age to be a million miles ahead of so many others in the game of understanding life and relations. I learned from the best, for that will always keep me ahead and give me peace. Many times I know what will or is happening, its not always positive, but its the truth. I'll go down knowing rather than living in a fantasy world. Live on....

My best friend.

Dante said:

a very good dad..smart and successful.... he was always in school getting better to provide for us... he is my hero

Click to expand...

thought you would never admit this about fish head dante my man.....lol...jk buddy, couldn't help myself...

curiousone said:

My dad was a very demanding person. He was a Marine, did two tours of combat as a company commander. Everything that you did, and I mean EVERYTHING had to be top notch or he would treat you like you were a Marine recruit. I was born in 1957 so Marines were allowed to be tough on recruits, not this girly-man bs that the DemoCong have insisted on morphing our military into.

My father instilled in all of us kids the ability to work very hard and provide for yourself. I am glad that he did this.

All the time that I was growing up I resented my father because I did not understand what he was doing. When I was in my early 30s I realized how blessed I am to have such a great man as a father.

My dad passed away a few years ago and we all miss him terribly.

Click to expand...

i feel for you brother, even though my dad did not serve a single day in the military, due to the number of kid's he had at the time of nam, you would of swore he has been through marine corp bootcamp. when i went through bootcamp at times i laughed as it seemed they had nothing on my old man....still a great experience though. we all miss him dearly as you do your father. mine also died just a few yrs ago 3 day's before my wedding, his knowledge was far greater than i realized and gave him credit for, and it suck's not being able to call him to ask him a question about somthing that i know he knew the answer to....

My dad is a great guy. We were raised super poor and I actually look back today and realize that was a good thing. To give you an idea....my father ran a landfill and we would frequently be brought home clothes to wear that he had procured from the trash. Humiliating stuff but built character. He taught my brother and I many lessons without having to say one word....something I try to do with my own children now and still don't have it down. When I was 15 my parents split up and he decided to go to become a doctor. A few years later he was one of the most successful doctors in a neighboring town. I resented him for not having success/better income on "my time" and told him about this once. He understood but let me know that life is long and people make decisions based on what is right at the time and what they are willing to live with. I have never seen him cry. He never swears.

I value his time and frequently call him with hard issues with my life....he always seems to have sage advice.

Something I love to do is watch him eat a plate of ribs. When he is done with a rib it looks like it sat in the Sahara desert for 6 months. I have literally seen him snap the bone in half to get the marrow. I sit and watch....and laugh.....he doesnt realize that is something I will laugh about long after he is gone.

step dad took 3 kids on when he was only 18, says enough about him. real dad was a douche and left when i was 4

def not the brightest but wouldnt trade him for anything or anyone

my dad took me to the horse races in 1973 when i was 12,we still bet every single day,he ruined my life,but i love him to death,best dad in the world