Commemorative Speech

Dad

Any man can be a father, but it takes a special person to be a dad, and it takes a very patient, caring, loving man to be the dad of six. My dad, Joel Perszyk, is the dad to six children between the ages of two and nineteen. Being the father to a nineteen year-old daughter, an eighteen-year-old son, a thirteen-year-old son, twin four-year-old daughters, and a two-year-old daughter can be pretty crazy. Usually when people hear me rattle off the number and ages of kids in my house the general response is “Wow! That’s a lot of kids. How do your parents do it?” and my response to them is, “you know, I’m not sure.” When I think about how we do it, my thoughts stream directly to dad. He is our courageous leader. He was a strong pillar during my development throughout the past nineteen years of my life. He has wiped away my tears, he has corrected me when I was wrong, and he has taught me how to show love to others by demonstrating it himself. My father is a strong, godly man, and is always there for me when I need him most. No father better illustrates the definitions of faithfulness, encouragement, and love.

Faithfulness—my dad embodies this word. My dad has always been faithful to his promises. There is not a time in my past when that I can recall my dad not following through on a promise. Growing up my dad would take me to see professional ballets at Pacific Northwest Ballet up in Seattle. He was always in the audience at school plays, and ballet recitals.  He was always cheering me on at basketball games and would give me a dollar for every hoop I would make, all because he promised. I know that I can always count on my dad to be there for me.  My dad has always been faithful in his discipline. When we are young, we are not able to comprehend a parent’s reason for discipline. It took me many years to understand why a parent would punish their child. I used to think that a parent was supposed to love their child and make them happy. With this way of thinking I found myself asking the questions how could my father spank me when I was young, how could he expect me to wash the never ending supply of dirty, crusted dishes? How could he expect me fold heaping, mountainous of laundry?  How could he take away my cell phone, and how could he keep me home on the weekends? It took me nineteen years to understand why my dad was faithful in his discipline. It took me nineteen years to realize that he was showing me love through his discipline and that he was helping me grow into a responsible, respectable woman of character that I aim to be.  When I think back at my childhood, I am so thankful that  I persevered through my dad’s strict discipline and endured the rules of the household because no it has paid off. So thank you dad. 

Encouragement—my dad gives this to me. Growing up my dad has been the number one encourager in my life. He has always been there for me, especially when I needed him most. When times of troubles come my way, my dad was the first person to drop everything to come to my rescue. My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person—he believed in me. My dad taught me to never quite but to take any challenge head on, telling me “You can do it, I believe in you.” These are the words that I hear echoing throughout the crevasses of my head and these are the words that carry me through the challenges that life hurls my way. My dad has taught me to fight through the storm and finish strong. It is easy to lose heart in times of trouble, in times of desperation, or in times of fear. However, with these hard times in life my dad has taught me that you can cower in fear and in self-pity or you can stand above the chaos and shout, “I will be victorious, I will persevere, and I will fight through this storm and finish strong.” It is because of my dad, and the words that he has wrapped in colors of strength, that I am able to pull myself up out of bed on the day of a gruesome anatomy test. It is because of  his words that I will never give up on my dreams and future plans. My dad is by no means perfect, but he is amazing in my eyes and it is because of his words that I will never lose heart.

Love—my dad exemplifies this. My dad always made sure to show me love and always made an effort to make me feel special. For as long as I could remember every valentine’s day growing up my dad would pick me up from school with flowers in one hand and chocolates in the other and take me out to lunch—just so that I felt special. Unlike some people, who throw away dead flowers, I found myself keeping the assorted kaleidoscope of flowers that my dad hand-picked just for me, and I would keep them in a vase on my dresser. Even though the flowers would be dead I couldn’t give them up. To this day I still keep the flowers that my dad gives me, because to me, those flowers still contain a sweet, sweet smell. As dead and mangled as these flowers may look to others, to me they are a beautiful, continuous reminder of my dad’s unfailing love for me. They are a constant reminder to me as they sit on  my desk, and when I am having a bad day, all I have to do is look at those flowers and remember that my dad believes in me, and that’s all I need.

                My dad isn’t a famous dad, but he is our family’s courageous leader. So thank you dad! Thank you for being my strong pillar. Thank you for being my lighthouse during my troubling storms. Thank you for holding me when I needed to cry. Thank you for always keeping your promises. And thank you for always pushing me, encouraging me, and believing in me to do the unthinkable. No matter what anyways else may tell you, believe me when I say that you are the best dad I could have hoped for. So thank you.