June 18th, 2023

My husband, Scott, was a great father. He was the kind of father who taught our boys things they needed to know. How to change a tire and your own oil, how to manage money, how to hunt and fish, survival skills, how to accept Jesus as your Savior, how to be a great husband and provider, how to love with your whole, entire heart and being, but also with boundaries that keep you safe.

Even when they didn’t know they were learning, Scott was teaching them things just by being himself. He was just someone you were proud to know, a war veteran, a fearless patient advocate and caregiver, a man with integrity and honor, a dad who loved them more than life itself, a friend who never met a stranger, a listening ear when you just needed to talk something out in order to better understand.

Today, his first Father’s Day in Heaven, he has the opportunity to celebrate his Heavenly Father. Although his dad and his children are here missing him, every day must be Father’s Day up there.

Happy Father’s Day, Scott. None of them will be the same here, going forward. I am thankful for my Dad, missing my stepdad, thankful for your Dad, who taught you to be the dad you are, and thankful for the opportunity to watch our boys be dads (now and in the future,) but I am missing you today. I’m missing watching you help them become the men they are now and your ability to keep reinforcing those lessons every day you walked the earth.