1. Bowling balls don’t float.  Ten thousand years from now, when a perplexed scientist discovers an ancient riverbed they will wonder how a bowling ball found itself there and never know if only that ball had behaved itself and hit the pins it wouldn’t have suffered a fall from the bridge into the water.
   
2. A bowl of spaghetti tossed against the wall can look like modern art.
3. The F word followed by “ing” is a versatile adjective.  It describes buses one is caught behind in traffic, drivers who cut others off, drivers who ride slow in the fast lane, tailgaters and drivers who don’t have exact change in the exact change toll booth lane.
4. “Hide and seek” can be played with inanimate objects Dad misplaces and sends the family out to find. These objects tended to be car keys and sunglasses.   If not found, see  number 3.
5. Monopoly and other board games are competitive sports played with the same intensity as War Games and other combat maneuvers simulating life and death.
6. When things go wrong, there is always someone to blame.  Usually Mom.
7. Men don’t stop and ask for directions no matter how lost or late they are, or how much their family begs them to ask.  Because if they do, they will defy the odds by stopping a deaf mute walking on the side of the road who can’t help them anyway, further justifying their stubbornness to never ask for directions again.  Ever!  (True story)
8. Young Marines might swear but little girls DO NOT.
9. Ivory soap is not listed in the food pyramid.  Good thing, because it tastes nasty.  See number 8 for further explanation.
10. Ivory soap doesn’t make for good toothpaste but can reduce the swearing recidivism rate.  See number 8 for further explanation.

We grow throughout our lives.  Circumstances and experiences shape and change us.  My parents were both so young when they married and had children that their children were witness to their maturation into adults.  We didn’t know this then because they were “Mom and Dad”, but to the rest of the world they were kids raising kids.  Although I only have one sibling, I have always said my mother raised three children: my brother, my father, and me.  He was a mere seventeen when he became a father.  My mother was younger.  What they did together as a couple and parents was amazing.  On this Father’s Day besides sharing stories like the ones above that have gone into our family folklore, I will leave you with this list of life lessons I learned from my father that I hope to pass onto my daughter.

1. Love is unconditional
2. People will come and go in life.  Family will always be there
3. “For better or worse” aren’t just words
4. Good friends are a treasure; rare and priceless
5. Treat your word or your handshake as if it were a legal document
6. We live in a great nation.  Take care of it
7. Honor veterans and the flag
8. Stand up for what is right even if it is unpopular
9. Take care of the young and elderly
10. And of course, once a Marine, always a Marine

 Happy Father’s Day, Dad and to all Fathers and Father figures everywhere.