Father's Day

I have spent a lot of time in my life figuring things out, and as most folks can probably relate, I don't know if I have made a whole lot of progress in the direction I want to. Don't get me wrong, I have had plenty of amazing experiences in my life, met a multitude of incredible humans, and had the opportunity to work closely with several of my passions in my career. Now that I've got a quarter of a century under my belt, I am in many ways happier than I have ever been in my life, although I don't have the passionate drive in my career that I once did. My life has always been something of a self-blazed trail, I often fail to ask the advice and direction of those near and dear to me and end up jumping headfirst into any opportunity I see the positive potential in. Sometimes this is out of necessity, sometimes boredom, and sometimes it's pure optimism. After looking at my past and the personality traits that have come and gone over the years, I have to say that I owe a lot of my happiness to two people.

My dad and I share so many similarities that it actually took me a long time to realize they were even present. My demeanour is an amalgamation of introverted social practices sprinkled with bouts of generalist insights for an odd amount of quite unrelated topics and punny dad joke humour used to alleviate tension. My professional career is primarily based in the automotive world, and while I am no construction worker, I can put a good effort into building or fixing a lot of things even if they are beyond my specific experiential scope. I have a big heart that I don't always like to show, and can be headstrong as well as honest to a fault. While I haven't always felt that every trait of mine has been beneficial in the applications I have tested them in, I also must note that I would not have ended up in my current state of affairs and happiness had they not lined up exactly as they did. And this I owe to my dad, without question. For all my quirks, they are offset by something that the people I value find endearing and I will be forever grateful for this. I have got a lot of odd looks over the years after referring to him by his first name, a habit I picked up while answering calls from his work at home at a young age, though I have never felt like he has been anything less than my dad. His granite expression is replaced with a soft and loving tone and jovial nature as soon as he is around my daughter, nephews, and niece, revealing his honest compassion and caring nature. It took me far longer than I would like to admit to realize these things and their reflection in me, for the future I can only look back and appreciate all the things I never knew that he gave me.

The other in whom I value some of my passions is my late grandfather. I have been spending more time as of late going through many of his eclectic belongings and saved memories from his vast career, and it is uncanny as to how many traits I have absorbed from his personality. As a hobbyist photographer for the last 10 years, I didn't realize that my religious conviction towards Canon was something we shared. In my sentiment, I tend to hold on to things for much longer than may be necessary, and while sorting through many of his treasured items I see literally hundreds and thousands of similar examples. A casual onlooker would call this hoarding, however knowing my grandfather I can assure you that there is more to it. Sure, there were many things that seemed to have no value such as several Disney-themed Valentines balloons from Goodwill 15 years ago that haven't seen the light of day but I know even something so frivolous would have held a place in his heart based on my mother and aunt's fandom for all things Disney. In this, I see my subtle passions for seeing an object and thinking of the person who would enjoy it most, and finding a genuine interest in hearing others voice their passions even if they feel they are unusual (especially so, in fact). My grandfather had a passion for knowledge and inquisition in all things, one area being the lineage of our family. Without him, I would be clueless of colourful leaves in my family tree, from incredible humans like William Wallace, Alexander Graham Bell, and most importantly, the legend himself, James C. Wallace.

In writing this, I look back on what these great men have provided for me in my life thus far, and I will be forever grateful for this. I can only hope to pass on a sliver of this to my own daughter and I aim to live my future doing what I can to pay homage to everything that my grandfather showed me, and everything that my father continues to show me to this day.

I love you Dad, I'm real damn proud to be a Kuh-nopp. Happy Father's Day.