My Papa

This is my Papa. Around my house we have to distinguish which Papa I may be talking about, since my kids call my dad Papa also. My Papa was an extremely hard-working man. There are many words to describe him. He was kind. He was hard. He was smart. He was short-tempered. He was a great farmer. He loved animals, especially dogs like the ones pictured above. He had morals and high expectations for those he loved most. He was demanding. He was funny. He was shy. He loved to give gifts! He loved his family. He loved the outdoors. He loved Christmas.

As a child I spent many nights and days with my Papa. Not so much working the farm, but I remember going to have lunch with him during harvest season. He would invite all who were working to gather around and share lunch time together. He enjoyed this break-even if things were going a bit rough and he was a bit cranky-he still enjoyed gathering his family and workers around to share a meal in the field.

He would take me on the combine, the beet harvester, the tractor, or whatever other implement he may be working with at the moment. A particular favorite was when he would come to our home to blade our driveway with his big road grater. That was always a hit! I always thought that my Papa was one of the richest men around-financially! He had so many tractors, equipment pieces, and vehicles that I was just certain he was a millionaire! Plus he had a large farm that was exceptionally fruitful-so of course he was a millionaire!

He had a sweet tooth and loved candy and donuts. Really who doesn't enjoy these things?! When I was a little girl he drank coffee. To this day I love the smell of freshly brewing coffee! As he got older he quit drinking coffee, but the fondness for the aroma has never left me!

As I got older I had many conversations with my Papa. He was a great listener. He had a sound head on his shoulders and a lot of life experience to offer good advice. He was not a member of any organized religion, but he believed in God and knew the difference between right and wrong. He always took the chance to let you know if he thought you were making good decisions or not.

He was steady. I always knew where he stood on important topics, such as education, marriage, family, and work. It is important in a persons life to have people who are such rocks. For me he was always interested in what I was doing. I never had the passion for the farm like many of my siblings, which he would tease me about. However, he still was interested in whatever it was that I was doing. When I talked, he listened. He would look at you, especially if it was a one-on-one conversation and pay attention. A skill many people don't have!

Throughout his life he had to deal with many challenging things. In all honesty, some of the experiences he had, he never dealt with-which led to some negative behaviors on his part. I learned from watching him, that it is of utmost importance that we try and deal with life experiences and things that happen to us. Burying it deep inside will only work for so long. Eventually the feelings of anger, hurt, and sadness will come out and will continue to come out forever-unless dealt with! Although he had a lot of those above mentioned emotions-I loved him. He loved me and I knew it!

He had a lot of accomplishments in his life. I believe that the most important accomplishment, the one that he felt the most sense of pride-but never felt deserving of-was his family. He has an amazing wife. He raised a wonderful son, and made the conscious decision to not pass on some of the negative things from his up-bringing. In return, he now has quite the posterity, even from having just one child himself.

I know he was not a man of many words in regards to his family and how he felt. But I also know that he was very proud of all the accomplishments from each of us. He loves us. He was proud when we would have successes and he was sad when we had failures. I was lucky enough to have several personal conversations with my Papa during my college years. During these times he would let his rough exterior slide for a bit and I was given the opportunity to see his gentle and kind heart.

My Papa taught me that it is important to work hard. To do things right the first time, and if you don't, go back and do it again. I inherited some of his perfectionistic behaviors. I also inherited some of his rigid tolerance of others ignorance-that I am working on! He was a wonderful man. I am so grateful that he is my Papa. Grateful for the temple and Eternal Families. Excited for the day that we will be re-united again. I am grateful that he is really not that far away and probably is watching out for me and my family daily! I can't think of a better guardian angel to have!