My Dad

My Dad, Clarence Eugene Glodfelter in his “happy place”. 🙂

This is my Dad. This is my Dad on a lake, in Canada. For those of you who never experienced vacationing with my Dad in Canada I’m not sure I can ever accurately describe what being there meant to him. All I can tell you is, I’ve never seen my dad as happy, as when he was fishing up there.

This joy; this exuberance; these fleeting moments in time; are how I choose to remember him. He’s been gone for over 14 years now, but when I think of him, this is what I remember.

My Dad wasn’t a complicated fella. He worked, he played and he loved. I don’t think of him in terms of what he taught me, but rather how he treated others. And he was a very kind man.

If I chose to, I could shine a spotlight on the aspects of my Dad’s life that weren’t necessarily his best moments. But, that would just be silly. He was just a man. He made errors in his life like all of us. But again, he was kind.

Over the years, I’ve spoken to many people who knew him. And the one commonality among all of them is, they loved my Dad. Friends and family alike say things like, “You’re Dad was so nice”, “You’re Dad helped me more than you know”, and “Gene, was one of the kindest men I ever knew. He had a huge heart.”  ‘Gene” is how my Dad referred to himself.  He never liked his first name ‘Clarence” so he took the second half of his middle name and made it his own. To me he was Dad, but to others he was Gene, Uncle Gene or Pop.

It is my sincere goal, to leave even half of the impression of the people my Dad’s life left. My wish is to always be kind as he was. I aspire to always see the best in people as he did. And I will make it my goal never to judge others by their actions because he always tried not to do that.

On this Father’s Day, Dad, thanks for always being you. Life wasn’t easy for you, but you nearly always found a way to stay positive and be kind. And in my book, that is your legacy.