If you forgot to mark your calendar for Father’s Day you’re not alone. In the mad rush of the 21st century it’s nearly impossible to remember every major holiday. If you had the type of father who would tell you not to “sweat the small stuff,” you know he won’t be offended if you skip Father’s Day this year. But that never-ending support our fathers give us illustrate exactly why we should make an effort to show dad we really care.
Last year we interviewed some loyal GrandPad users who are also first-rate fathers. These dads and their children were more than happy to relive their cherished memories and impart some wisdom for people about to raise their own families. Check out Frank and Leigh’s story below, and consider how much of a difference a GrandPad could make for your own father.
Frank is the kind of dad who made the most of every moment, and at the age of 96 he’s just as full of vim and vigor as he was in his 20s. According to Leigh, his daughter, Frank is still mentally as sharp as a tack, and is in astounding health for his age. Frank remarks that his 95th birthday, which he celebrated last year, was a meaningful milestone for him – Frank happens to have been born on Easter Sunday, and on his 95th birthday his birthday happened to fall on Easter as well.
As Leigh will rush to tell you, Easter is one of Frank’s absolute favorite holidays. He loves celebrating the resurrection of Jesus (and eating the candy, of course). Frank cherishes his relationship with God, and as he was raising Leigh and her siblings Frank taught his children that God was a rock they could depend on in times of trouble.
Leigh recalls that she would often become worried or anxious as a child, and whenever she was feeling unsure of herself her father Frank would always remind her to “not depend on [her] own understanding.” Leigh smiles, admitting that he helped her stop fretting about unimportant details and big life events too.
When we asked Leigh to tell us a particularly fond memory of her father, Leigh excitedly launches into a story from her childhood that begins with her family visiting Leigh’s grandparents in Swiss, West Virginia. Once they settled in, Frank tried to convince the children to accompany him on a hike of a nearby rolling mountain. Leigh protested, adamant that the mountain was full of bears and other frightening dangers.
Convinced that the hike would mean a gruesome end by a family of wild bears, Leigh continued to do everything she could to demonstrate her opposition to the hike. Even when they went outside, Leigh “was doing everything possible to avoid the climb and go back to the safety of [her] grandparents’ house.”
Realizing how distressed Leigh was, Frank came to her defense, switching sides and convincing Leigh’s siblings that they should go back to their grandparents’ house and play there instead. Leigh has never forgotten how her father put her concerns and well-being above his own, and never made her feel ashamed or embarrassed.
Fathers like Frank are hard to come by, but we all understand how special our fathers were to us. Give your father the gift of communication this Father’s Day by signing him up for a GrandPad account. At any moment he can video call or voice email anyone in his trusted network. All it takes is one call from you to brighten his day – imagine what regular voice calls would mean to him. From all of us here at GrandPad, Happy Father’s Day.