There comes a time in every father son relationship when the son stops looking at his father as a rule driving boss man and begins to just look at him as a person. My dad has taught me a lot of great lessons over my 26 years, and as I grow I start more and more to see him also as my friend. I am no longer afraid to tell him the truth.. nobody side swiped his truck in a parking lot when I was 17. I cut a corner when I was driving to school and I came too close to a car. And my dad also tells me the good stories now too about shenanigans from his past. As this fathers day approaches, I think of a few good things I’ve taken from you pops and that have helped me become a better person.

     1. DIY

As I grew up dad always had a wide array of tools and he did his best to fix things if he could. Whether it was cars, my toys or fixing up the house. Now I see you pushing yourself and continuing to learn new things that allow you to fully tear apart a house and build it back-up. There is so much accomplishment in doing things yourself and not paying someone to do everything. With this said, there is always a point when you call in a professional, but while the professional is there have a watch and hopefully next time you won’t need him.

I now find myself doing all of my own maintenance on my vans and bikes and snowboards and whatever else breaks or needs upgrades.

      2. Never Stay at a Crap Job

Dad may have never always liked his jobs, but he worked hard and instilled in our minds to avoid putting yourself in a position where you are working a job you strongly dislike. There are lots of jobs out there and with patience and hardwork we can all find one that we love to do. The kind of job where people say, damn that sounds like a cool job!

It’s never too late to start again and try something else.

     3. Financial Sense

As I grew up I was always a numbers guy. I loved math, I loved going to the bank, and I loved collecting coins. Dad would tell me what was going on with our family finances. Always pay the lowest interest possible, pay the credit card off with the line of credit and move line of credit funds onto the mortgage if necessary. Buy RRSP’s to bring yourself down a tax bracket if possible, but don’t buy RRSP if you think you’ll need that money again, because the fees are not worth it. And so much other financial knowledge that I’ve learned and find so many others don’t understand.

Spending habits are also very important. My dad never usually had a lot of nice things besides his trucks. His clothes were hand me downs and he would fix things before he would just throw them out. Explore all your options before buying new, because sometimes it can save you a lot of money in the long run. Check kijji, check value village, maybe you can wait till there’s a sale or maybe you find you don’t actually need it at all.

Sometimes I understood what he was talking about and sometimes it was over my head, but with time and many questions I believe these things have helped me make a lot of decisions that have allowed me to live my current ski / bike bum lifestyle.

There are many other great lessons I’ve taken from my years around my dad, but these are few that are shining through in my life currently. I hope you have great day paps!

Love your friend and son,

Mitch

Posted by Mitch