Shoe Malfunctions and Father Figures

Yesterday after I had been in the office for about 2 hours, I noticed that the strap on my sandals had come loose and started fraying.  I don't really care, since they were only $10, but I didn't want to walk around with a broken shoe all day.  Being silver sandals, duct tape seemed like the obvious solution.  I went to ask the head of my department if he had any, since he always has stuff like that on hand.  He didn't, but he grabbed my shoe and stapled it back together for me.  This goes way above and beyond his normal responsibilities.  I remember having a similar shoe issue when I first started at my job, and he happened to have electrical tape in his desk to repair them with.  These are small gestures, and obviously I could have stapled my shoe back together myself, but it reminds me how fortunate I am to work on such a small, close-knit team (there's only 5 of us). When not acting as my cobbler, my co-worker has given me tons of advice about gardening, car repair, and home maintenance.  He reminds me of my dad in this way.  And living a 4 hour drive from my dad, it's nice to have a stand-in sometimes.



All of this to say, this Father's Day, remember to tell the fathers in your life thanks for all the cool things they do.  My dad was seriously my favorite person while I was growing up.  We spent summers going on bike rides and listening to Ernie Harwell call Tigers games on the radio (while, of course, watching it on TV with the sound muted). I was my dad's helper when he was fixing things around the house, and it was my dad who taught me everything I know about rock & roll.  Seriously, how many 8 year old kids know lyrics to Bob Dylan, Led Zeppelin and Springsteen?

My first ballet recital, 1986

No one appreciates a good (bad) pun quite like my dad, and he's always in a good mood and laughing about something.  He loves hearing about my job, and is one of the only people who even kind of understands what I do for a living. I can thank my dad for my sense of humor, slightly awkward social skills, sweet tooth, nerdiness, freckles, love of music and baseball and general fixing skills.

"C'mon Dad!" Crossing Lakeshore Drive during my first ever trip to Chicago, 1986

Millennium Park, Chicago, 2005 or so

Tank: Old Navy

Pants: Loft Outlet

Sandals: Aerosoles

Watch: Fossil

Earrings: Macy's

Sunglasses: Loft