Six years ago I lost the biggest influence in my life, my father. He lost a battle with cancer. Although he was sick, he still worked, still drove trucks up until the last few months before he died, he just couldn't stop working. He was doing what he loved, working on the farm, the day he went into the hospital and never came home.

He was a trucker, a farmer, a mechanic and the hardest working man I had ever seen. He was happiest when he was home working on the farm, this was the place that he loved to be. He was a real salt of the earth man. He was a good man too, always willing to do what he could to help out a stranger. I remember riding with him in his big truck and seeing him pull over to help out someone who had broken down. Anytime another farmer needed help we were right over to help out with whatever needed done.

Because of him I am the hardworking person that I am today, I started working on the farm at a very young age, baling hay, driving tractors, operating machinery, cutting wood for winter. Hard work never bothered me. I enjoyed working on the farm, and we often worked for other farmers who would reward us for our hard work with nice cold beer, a real treat for us kids. My experience driving tractors on the farm would eventually help me out in getting my licence to drive trucks.

He also taught me to be independent and self sufficient. My father was the type of man who could fix every thing himself, and he taught me how to fix cars, tractors, and many other things. He often had me help him work on his truck. He taught me that I should learn as many skills as I could so that I would always have some thing to fall back on if I ever needed to. He let my brother and I grow our own vegatable garden, we grew corn, tomatoes etc and we sold them at out little vegatable stand. We were so proud of our little "business"

The lessons that he taught me were so important in making me the person I am today. I miss him everyday and I think about him alot when I am out here on the road. I often find myself in situations where I ask myself "what would dad do?" . This helps me to get through life.

Sorry to hear about your loss. My Mom passed away 3 years ago and I never really knew her. Be thankful that you knew him well and that he had such a profound influence on you. That is sweet of you to keep his memory alive. One day at a time is all we can do.

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Lil'Devil
I can relate to your post.
I came from a very dysfunctional family but my father was the person that I spent most of my time with.

We went golfing, fishing, Played music and wrote songs together, and I truly miss him.
He was the one who held the family together.

Although we was not perfect and had his moments with a nasty temper, I still respected and loved him.

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Your dad is very proud of you, I can feel it in the words you wrote. He must have been a very special man, and the fact that you are the type of person who can write such touching words is a true testimony to his life. Good Job!

Thanks for writing that,my dad is also gone but never forgotten. He raised eight of us without ever a complaint of working so hard for all of us. my mother never had to work and he did it all himself,with two full time jobs and one part time job for 45 years steady. He instilled hard work into me also,since I was ten years old till present.I delivered over 200 newspapers every morning from 430 to school time 7 days a week,at eve he would pick me up at school and together we delivered groceries to ist,2nd and 3rd floors all around our town. My reward was a large rootbeer and 2 chicken salad sandwiches at A&W Root Beer Stand on saturday morning on a break from delivering those darned old groceries. I worked harder then than I do now,thanks to God.My three boys and daughter are also great hard workers as I brought the same ethics to them,if you don't earn it and work for it you don't deserve or get it.You all have a safe week out there. See ya all.

Dear Lil Devil:

Lost is always hard and change is challenging, especially when we become vulnerable to life's hardships. Losing your Daddy I know seems like the end of the world, but it's truly not...you now have to try to create a spiritual relationship with him. A relationship that does not include touch, sound and smell...this is hard work, so good luck on your journey.

Finally, always keep in mind that death is final but love is eternal...many blessings to you and your family.

Dee