When I was a kid my brother and I would sometimes go with my Dad to junk yards to look for parts for whatever car he was fooling around with a the time. That is my Dad and my little brother with me looking on in the picture.

He was always into american cars. Chevelles, Mustangs and Corvettes were always among the usual suspects. At the time I can remember thinking that a junk yard was one of the neatest places to visit on a Saturday morning. Where else could you wander in and out of cars, pretending to drive and screaming at your brother to “get out of the road” at the top your voice without getting yelled at to be a little more quiet, please?

I think that is where my love affair with cars started. There and driving to and from them at 100 MPH in the days before seat belts. My Dad love cars, trucks, motorcycles and anything else with an engine. He even had an old Cub Cadet that he was quite fond of! He passed that love to me and now I pass it to my son. My Dad passed away in 1998 at the very young age of 50, my son had not yet turned 1. Over the years I have tried to tell my son every story that I know of my Dad, and there are a lot, to show him that this is how fathers and sons are meant to be. Working side by side on a project, any project, figuring out a problem, laughing and sharing the rewards of a job well down.

I miss my dad a lot. I don’t know if a week has gone by in the last 14 years that I haven’t spoke about him, for better or worse. So without any further ado, Happy Father’s Day to everyone who is a dad or has a dad.