With Father's Day in the UK coming this Sunday, 17th June, I wanted to take the opportunity to share Three Things I Love About My Dad. It's a ridiculously difficult task narrowing it down to three, and for that reason I'm just going to go ahead and pick three at random. They're not going to be in any particular order or be any more important than any of the countless reasons I've left off. But this is a quick sum up. For anyone who has had the pleasure of meeting my dad, aka TC, aka Papa Chick, you'll know he is absolutely brilliant.
He has helped me get to know the head behind the heart of my business.
It's really hard running a business that is all about something you make and bring into the world. It's easy to get caught up in the emotional side of things and make bad decisions that aren't based on anything but what your heart wants. My dad has always been a biz whiz and knows his business strategy inside and out. Last year, he started doing a monthly business review with me. We sit down with a cup of tea and spreadsheets in front of us, we look at the figures together, we discuss what has worked and what hasn't. I make promises about what I'm going to work on and we document this so next month we can look at what went right and what went wrong. We look at what needs more work and where I can step back a bit. It has been incredibly helpful and has helped me to grow my business basing my decisions on FACTS rather than just what I feel.
He is a great support system.
When I was going to really difficult counselling sessions he would drive me there and drive me home. He was very sensitive about asking me about the sessions and was very good at letting me know that he was there to talk to if I wanted to, but I didn't have to if I didn't want to. When my depression was at its worst he bought me books that helped with mindfulness and a gym membership trial. This was life changing for me. And really quite life saving as well. We had talked loads of times about how I know that exercise always makes me feel better but I just wasn't taking that next step to do anything about it. I was finding other places for my money to go (which were only making me feel worse). I didn't think I had the time to exercise properly. We started going to the gym together a few times a week and it was really nice having that walk to the gym to talk about our days ahead and then have a workout before catching up after. He helped me build that routine into my life and through that I've been able to shape a really wonderful routine for myself that has helped me to feel happier and healthier, both in mind and body, than I ever have before.
He is strong as hell.
In Autumn of last year my dad told me he was going to have to have open heart surgery. I knew for years that he'd been going for regular checks on a dodgy heart valve, but he always came out of them with no news to report. Until one of his appointments last year. He was told that it had gotten progressively worse and he would need to be operated on as soon as they could get him in. I remember feeling like I wanted to freak out. I didn't want to do that because I wanted to be strong for my dad. I wanted him to know that he was surrounded by pillars of strength, not that I was a ball of nerves inside. As the weeks went on, and then months, we kept waiting to hear for the date he would go in for his op. Finally we found out only found out a couple weeks before he was due to go in. He made me his designated personal chef so I could feed him nutritious meals to help him recover and not to put on weight while he wasn't able to go to the gym all the time. I made him a wonderful meal plan that he could pick and choose from and I prepped loads of food to go into the freezer for him. When the day of the operation finally came round I hugged him goodbye and told him I loved him with a smile on my face. I didn't want him to know I was scared for him. As he pulled away in his taxi I waved goodbye, turned around and hugged my mum and THAT'S when we cried. We had a long couple days waiting to hear news. I'd make sure I kept my mum as busy as possible. When we heard that my dad was out of surgery and was recovering there was a massive sigh of relief. We visited him in hospital and he was doing a brilliant job recovering - his physiotherapist said he was a star pupil. When he was sent home he had a plan for how much walking he could do and we would slowly build that up over time. He's now been given the go ahead to get back to the gym on a rehabilitation program and he can comfortably walk 4 miles! He's been a superstar through this whole thing - being really diligent with his physio exercises (even when they were a total boring drag) and being honest about when he wanted help and when we needed to leave him to it. He's even been given the go ahead to go on a sunny holiday with my mum now! She's thrilled, as you can imagine.
As I said, a quick sum up, ok, maybe not that last one. This post doesn't even touch on how helpful he is, what a great cook he is, what a brilliant quiz show partner he would be or how hilarious he is. Dads should be loved every day of the year, but this Sunday, maybe make sure to make a point of doing something extra special to celebrate him. I'll be sending mine long distance love to Spain as he sits with my mum sunning himself.
And if you need to pick up a card, don't forget there is free UK shipping on all orders and there are Father's Day cards for all types of dad. Click here to go to the Father's Day shop.
How will you be celebrating Father's Day?