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Welcome Wednesday: Happy Father's Day!

Jimmy Seddon

Hello Everyone!

Welcome to a very special edition of Welcome Wednesday! What makes this one so special you ask? We are giving away prizes!

First, I would like to thank @Community Manager and the rest of the Community Team for supporting my crazy idea! I really appreciate Atlassian allowing us to do a raffle giveaway.

In Canada, (as well as a number of other countries) this coming Sunday is Father's Day! If you would like the chance to win one of 5 possible prizes, what I would like to hear from you is something great about your father. It could be a fond memory, a life skill you were taught or a funny quirk that makes you laugh.

Everyone that shares something great about their father's will be entered into the raffle. If you want to participate in the raffle you will need to get your responses in quickly, as the winners will be selected by 12pm EST on Friday June 18th.

We'd love to hear your wonderful stories after that time but you won't be able to be included in the raffle.

Alright it's your time to shine! Tell me all about how wonderful your father is!

Comments

rbeha

My father is an amateur radio operator, and got me interested in radio at an early age. He learned the Morse Code by overhearing HIS father (my grandpa) practicing for HIS ham radio license. As a result of all this, I am now a third-generation amateur radio licensee.

Thanks to my dad's technical bent, I was introduced to computers early in life. He worked at Heath Company when I was 8 years old, and would bring home an early PC for me to play with. Years later, he brought home a Commodore Vic-20, and plenty of programming books for my young mind to inhale. He really molded me into the man I am today. Happy Father's Day, Dad!

Deanne Pate

My father always challenged me to understand many points of view. He and I loved to discuss politics and religion. Even if he agreed with me he would take opposing views and push me to defend my POV, and to acknowledge the good points he would make. I learned more, researched more, and pushed myself to study several topics, stay up with current events, and prepare for battle!;-) He passed away in 2006, and I miss him and our stimulating conversations. Everyday I wish I could talk with him again. Especially in this crazy time!

Jimmy Seddon

That's awesome @rbeha! My father is also an amateur radio operator, however that is not something I got into myself.

I can also thank my dad for introducing me to computers at a young age.

Jimmy Seddon

@Deanne Pate I'm sorry to hear that your father passed away. But, it sounds like you have some really good memories and he did a good job of making you into the person you are today!

PBaker2

My father Jim was a mentor, honest, hilarious, dependable and loyal. A fond memory I have was when I was 15. My soccer team had an out of town tournament the same weekend as my brothers in town track meet. Unannounced, he drove 4 hours so that he could watch a 90 minute soccer game. He rarely missed a sporting event. He passed away in 09. Physically gone but not forgotten.

Deanne Pate

Thank you @Jimmy Seddon

Ellyn Caplan-Klein

My Dad is turning 90 on Father's Day this year. He was born on June 20, 1931 and he was born on Father's Day just like this year.

When I was growing up I was the middle sister in my family. Whenever my Dad had a project to fix or change something in our home, he would always ask which one of the 3 of us wanted to be his HELPER FOR THE PROJECT. NEITHER OF MY 2 SISTERS WANTED TO HELP HIM so I always volunteered to work with him. For me it was special times that I was spending with my Dad. He taught me how to re-wire the light in our finished basement, I learned how to paint our chimney, I helped design improvements for our home and so much more. He and I have always had a very close relationship and he taught me how to be "Handy" for my own home projects as an adult.

When he was opening a new Optometric Office to exam patients he asked me if I wanted to work with him and my Mom to help patients learn Visual Training to improve their overall eye site. I jumped at this opportunity to work with him and to get paid. It was my first real job and I loved helping his patients grow stronger with their vision as I taught them different exercises for their eyes. This was when I decided that I wanted to work in a hospital for my next job.

I was offered a job at our closest hospital in the Lab department. Working my way through college and my hospital job increased my responsibilities and also really helped my pay my own way in college. My Dad wrote a fantastic recommendation from the years I assisted him and the hospital found a great position that I could work before school and some evenings as well as work every weekend as the Collection Supervisor on the weekends!

I made the decision early in my life that I never wanted to be more than 1 hour away from my parents so I could visit them often. I raised my daughters and my parents got to see them all the time. In my Dad's last few years he has needed a lot of help from me and I am so grateful that he is still around. My Mother died the year I turned 30. My Dad has always been a fun person to be with and I love him to the Moon and back!

Jimmy Seddon

That's really great to hear @PBaker2! I can only imagine the feeling you had of not expecting to see your father, followed by the overwhelming excitement and joy of having him there to support you!

bhague

My Dad was always interested in electronics, radios, and computers. While we didn't have a lot of money when I was growing up, we would go dumpster diving for broken electronics, fixing TV sets and selling them in the thrifty nickel. My Brother got the first computer in the family (excluding the Atari 2600) when they bought a TRS-80 Color Computer in the early 80s.

Since this was the family computer, I was able to do my 1st grade spelling practice on this machine. Back in those days, it was common to load a program from a cassette tape. He wrote a program that would not only load the program from the cassette tape but also play his voice telling me what word to spell. I would then type the correct spelling and it would play the next word until it was done. That's my earliest memory of using a computer, and it was using something my Dad wrote.

Jimmy Seddon

That is a wonderful story @Ellyn Caplan-Klein!

Jimmy Seddon

I love these types of memories @bhague! Thank you for sharing!

Brant Schroeder

My dad has always been active and spends time in the outdoors. He passed this on to me and I have passed it on to my kids. It is really cool to see my teenagers call up my dad and take him mountain biking. He is always learning new things as well. Last year he decided he wanted to become a backcountry skier. So he bought the gear, took some courses, and now he skins up and skis in the backcountry. He is a great example of "you are never too old to learn new things". He is almost 80 and not slowing down, I only hope to be as active as he is when I am that age.

alkarim.jivraj

My dad made the biggest sacrifice of his life for me and my brother by moving to Canada in 1981. He left everything back in Tanzania so we can have a better life and he made the right choice. If it wasn't for his sacrifice, I would not have been able to experience and live a Canadian life which has been awesome right from the start.

Gustavo Miller

My father was a good man; but I was a bad son. I have never been very lucky, when I was born; I contracted Polio at a very early age. Polio took me to hell but God rescued me. When I was a kid I had to go through a lot of surgery. lots of pain and abuse; after each procedure first person I saw was my mom; never my dad. I resented him.

I lived my life at 100miles per hour; drugs, alcohol and whatnot. My father all the time wanted me to get back and straighten life, but I resented him so bad, not knowing that he had to work double shifts to pay for my operations; but I was blind submerged in drugs and wild living. I was a runaway train, destroying anything and anyone who got on my path; including my own children. Last words I told my dad cannot repeat them.

I feel so ashamed to have pushed the man who loved me unconditionally. He never gave up. I got clean and sober; with over 20 years now. Remarried with 2 more children, 5 in total. Today I take the memory of my father in my heart, and cherish the good moments and I pray that one day I will see him again. My mom told this: your father said this before he die "I think my son is coming home today". What an amazing father he was.

I love you dad!

Taranjeet Singh

My father is a businessman in India. He was so busy to earn a living for all his family members during his young age, but he always ensured to sometime to his family on Sundays to take us out to the local city park and the nearby dining place in our hometown in India. I still remember those fun Sundays spent with him. On other days, I rarely got to meet and talk to him before my bedtime, since he worked day and night to support his family for their financial needs, including my higher education.

He also used to take us to the religious place (i.e. Gurudwara) for offering prayers to God each Sunday during the mornings.

He taught all his kids, including me, to be honest, hard-working, and persistent in any of the efforts we do. He taught us to be kind and helpful to others if you want to be treated the same way. Moreover, being attached to God, he always taught us to remember the Almighty in every good and bad situation in our life.

I learnt a lot from him, but I still feel that I am not up to that standard that he maintained for his work and family life. I am still trying to follow all his teachings that really help me in all my efforts in my life.

I love him a lot.

May God bless him with long life and all the happiness in this world!

Jimmy Seddon

I love it @Brant Schroeder! Though I don't think I would have the courage for backcountry skiing.

Jimmy Seddon

That's amazing @alkarim.jivraj! I'm glad that you feel you have benefited from that move.

Jimmy Seddon

@Gustavo Miller I really appreciate your willingness to open up this way. I imagine it can't have been easy. I would like to think that you have made your father proud by getting to the point you are now.

Jimmy Seddon

Great story @Taranjeet Singh! I know exactly what you are talking about. I have continued to strive to be as hard-working and kind to others following my father's example.

Kristján Geir Mathiesen

Excellent topic, @Jimmy Seddon ! My father passed away 28 years ago on July 25th. He taught me the value of hard work. I started working for him in our family company when I was 11. I would work during every school break: Easter, summer, and Christmas breaks. He also taught me the value of saving my money - not spending it on small things - so I would be able to purchase a big ticket item some day, like a car. His father died suddenly when my father was 10 years old. I don't think he really worked through his grieve and feelings. His mother was really close and emotionally distant. I really think that affected my dad and his teenage years. It wasn't until the end, he died from cancer, that he started opening up to me emotionally. He was 58 when he passed away. I always talk to him when I visit his grave - asking advice and just communicating out loud.

Thanks again for this chance to reflect, Jimmy!

Thorhalla Gudmundsdottir Beck

If I have learned anything from my father it's never to stop fighting and speak up for yourself. He didn't have the easiest of childhoods which meant that I didn't either, but it has made me who I am and I wouldn't change any of it. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger and considering the shit the cosmos has thrown at my father I am sure he will outlive even Keith Richards.

The biggest thing that I, and indeed the world, will remember my father by is probably his fight against the industrial conglomerate induced natural disaster that is Kárahnjúkavirkjun and the aluminium smelter plant built in my home town in Reyðarfjörður, Iceland. In an article Susan De Muth wrote in the Guardian she described him as "the lone voice of resistance"[1] which was pretty much true because even though there were others who had doubts they lacked his conviction and fire. He has never lacked the power to voice his opinions.
It is strange to see people write about your father this way on websites and in newspapers, and even in books. Mimi Sheller describes him as a "soft-spoken, passionately serious man with tussled graying hair"[2] and even though it sounds like something out of a noir novel it's very accurate. Of course he can be loud and not serious. I only have to think back to many a school function where us siblings wished fervently that he would not show up or in any case not find any of it funny to save us the embarrassment of hearing his hearty laughter boom through the entire school earning us "those looks" from our schoolmates.

We are probably closer now than we ever were during my childhood. We are not emotional people, my father and I, but we direct our fire to our fellows and reach out our hands to our neighbours. Then we look back and smile wryly and think "yes, this is our family fire forged in fjords of Iceland". And I will forever hold sacred the blood fire of the Becks.

[1] Susan De Muth (2003). Power Driven, The Guardian Weekend, November 29. pp. 87-93

[2] Mimi Sheller (2014). Aluminium Dreams: The Making of Light Modernity, The MIT Press, London, England (p. 210).

PJ Wysota

My father was an exemplary man for me. He was most of the times there for us. If he wasn't - we knew he is somewhere in the country doing his job to raise us. There is a lot stories I could tell you about his honesty, straight forward approach to life, respect for others etc. But I assume in all the good things related to him the best was he was a great practical joker.

First thing first - mid 80's - Commies times - my father, member of underground Solidarność is going back home with illegal printouts and meet policeman. They fought, my dad KO'd him. To "camouflage" himself he shaved his moustaches just afterwards. His justification to my mother was... he wanted to look younger for her... and maybe other GFs.

He had this charisma to play with people's mood. And find if they are OK with you, or doing anything behind your back. How? Simply - greeted with "Good Morning" he was just doing poker face with cold steel eyes and asked slowly "Are You sure it is GOOD morning???"

There were a lot more. Some are not translatable into English directly (Like "snowy pal" nickname he gave one of his work friends, afer one made some mistake. Questioned what is all with "snowy pal: my dad answered he wouldn't dare to call him snowman - and snowman is in Polish synonim of stupid). Some need some philosophic approach - like my fav's quotation (again - not directly translatable): "If you were not thinking while doing this, now just do what you think need to be done."

There was not one day without laugh on his jokes. The same was with all the people he met in life - family, friends, etc. So imagine his funeral. By default sad ceremony, but whoever meets there - we recall all these stupid jokes. We smile, laugh - not even very silently... more than 300 people at the funeral recalling 100s of practical jokes. And THIS as the point of the story:

When we walked my dad's coffin to his grave, the coffin was first=ly followed by priest, then by family, then by other attendees. At the grave we surrounded it, but for whatever f...ing reason priest requested a big tent to be setup over him in case it will rain. So 4 funeral workers were raising and manouvering coffin, another 4 were trying to setup tent, they mixed up so badly plus the wind blown in this very moment, that my father's coffin collapsed on neighbour's grave, breaking the stone, tent flew away with the wind, priest almost landed down in my father's grave... Like a slapstick movie with Charlie Chaplin...

And you should seethis look we send one another with my mom, and 2 sisters at the very moment. With the same sparkle in our eyes, and the same sentence out of our mouth:

"The old man hasn't finished his jokes yet!"

Thank You, Dad!

After this very good story I need to emphasize why this part was, and is so imporatant for me. My father died prematurely and too quickly to prepare for. Diagnosed with Cancer in June 2012 he died in October 2012. 4,5 months. Within 3 months he couldn't see, walk, he did not regcognize anyone apart from 2-3 persons, 4 weeks to his dead we got no limits on morfine for him, as it was already the end. And that wasn't fun part. Still - look above - we all apprecietaed ESPECIALLY the fun part.

Bottom line is - it is something in sentence that loving someone is making him/her laugh. Even in parental relations.

Thorhalla Gudmundsdottir Beck

Your father reminds me of my father in law. Always joking and smiling. He also got cancer and died very fast after he got really sick. The last memory I have of him is sitting in a wheel chair, unable to move or speak, but that same cheeky smile still shining in his eyes. The smiling memories will remain!

Linda Milne_Togetha Group_

My Dad is pretty cool. He took up riding motorbikes after retiring and has a penchant for long distance riding. Hes a Far Rider and in the Iron Butt Association - long distance for these guys being a minimum of 1,000km in 24hrs, the distances get harder from there. He turned 80 a few years ago and rides a Kawasaki 1400 touring bike. He has done so many kilometres on his bike (heading towards 500,000km) Kawasaki interviewed him for their magazine.

Dharma Ramos

Like @Ellyn Caplan-Klein I was the one to always volunteer to do projects with my dad. I really enjoyed spending time with him. Though I don't remember the last time I was under the hood of car, with him I got to learn how to change a tire, flush a radiator, do an oil change, change break pads, etc. He was a postmaster and would often take me to work with him. He taught me the value of hard work and I get my work ethics from him. He passed 9 years ago and I miss him dearly. One thing I remember the most was his laugh. He had a contagious laugh and would laugh until tears rolled down his cheeks. I also got that from him.

John Funk

My father instilled in me the virtue of working hard to provide for your family. He did this way more by his example than his words. He taught Horticulture at the local university and always had a love for gardening and flowers. Our family even owned a florist shop and greenhouses for a while.

So I can say that I got my love of flowers and plants and greenhouses from him.

He also served as a US Marine during WWII, and I am proud of his service. He passed away at the age of 87 a little less than 10 years ago, but his influence in my life still goes on.

Ellyn Caplan-Klein

Dharma,

We just found out that my Dad is dying from a second cancer. He already was being treated for CLL but now he has a much more aggressive cancer that will kill him over the next few months. We really don't know if he has weeks or months because this 2nd disease is so aggresive. But his 90th B-Day is Sunday on Father's Day So my sister is coming in from Arizona tomorrow afternoon so we are planning to make this a very special day for him too!

Jimmy Seddon

@Ellyn Caplan-Klein I'm really sorry to hear that But I'm glad you and your sister are going to make the most of it!

Dharma Ramos

@Ellyn Caplan-Klein Sorry to hear about your dad. That is what took my dad, a Cancer recurrence. Glad you and your sister will have a chance to spend such a special day with him.

Jimmy Seddon

Thank you to everyone who shared great stories about your father's here!

I thought I would wrap this up by telling you all a bit about my own father. He grew up as an only child, with a father in the military and a mother who was a nurse. He was a boarding school for most of his younger years. I think think is why he truly values time with family above everything else.

He never missed any sports I was involved in and regularly got involved as a coach. All holidays were and are very special to him, even more so now that my sister and I have little ones of our own.

Because of COVID I haven't had the opportunity to see him for almost a year (in person). We are going to be able to get together for father's day and he is so excited to be able to see all of us in person again.