Today is Father’s Day, so I want to talk about my dad.

My dad is the quintessential family man: everything he does is for his family.

My childhood — and, now, my adulthood — has been an endless stream of support from my parents. My dad, especially, has always told me to “follow my gut” in the pursuit of happiness.

The only thing he has ever expected of me is to put myself in the best position possible to be happy. That’s all he’s ever wanted for me, and it’s all he’s ever asked me to do: do what’s necessary to pursue happiness.

Dad is one of the hardest working people I’ve ever known. His time at work is spent fiercely concentrating on whatever task on which he is working. Conversely, his time at home is spent fiercely concentrating on his family.

As a child, Dad was always right next to me helping me reach my goals. Whether I was playing soccer — Dad never missed a practice — or practicing the flute — he would sit with me for hours to nail down a string of notes for an upcoming solo.

And then he would be right there celebrating with me when I scored the goal or performed the solo — usually with tears of joy rolling down his cheeks.

As my goals changed, his goals changed. He never questioned my decision to move 2,000 miles away to pursue journalism. Or move an additional 1,000 miles east for my full-time reporting job.

It seems like such logical, simple advice, and I guess it is, but what Dad doesn’t know is that he helped shape my gut.

Every day we are all faced with a variety of decisions — some simple and some not so simple. And he gives me the same advice each time and I always do what he suggests — go with what I feel is right. But when I’m trying to figure out exactly what I feel, I think about Dad.

I think about how hard he’s worked during his lifetime. I think about how he always puts in the maximum amount of effort so things are done correctly. I think about how much he researches everything from vacation plans to new cars to dishwasher models so he can arm himself with as much information when making a decision. And I think about what will make him proud. And what’s really great is what will make him proud is doing what will make me happy.

Unfortunately I can’t be with my dad on his special day, but he wouldn’t have it any other way.

Happy Father’s Day Daddy!

I also wanted to thank A.J.’s dad for his hand in raising A.J., who turned out to be a pretty OK guy. So we brought these stuffed mushrooms to A.J.’s parent’s house yesterday to celebrate Father’s Day with them.

Stuffed with sausage and sage and smothered in mozzarella, I can’t think of a better way to thank a man for raising the love of my life. He really liked them.

I started by browning some breakfast sausage in skillet with some seasoned salt, sage, garlic and pepper. I broke the sausage up with my spatula as it cooked. [Read more...]