Jessie Freelance

Who are the biggest influences in your life?

The earliest memories I have are of my dad, reading to me, mimicking Grover from “Sesame Street” to make me laugh, me standing at the living room window, watching as he drove off to work, streaks of light from the early morning sun coming through the window. He was hilarious, but only around people he felt completely comfortable with. He was known as being a quiet guy, maybe slightly grumpy at times, but to me he was a super hero. My rock. The quiet consistency that calmed my anxious mind.

I like to think I learned my work ethic from my dad. Most of his adult life he worked for the same electrical supplier, but he started as a roofer and during my entire childhood he would roof barns and houses in the summer to make extra money for school clothes and Christmas presents for my sister, brother and I. My mom would pack us lunches and we would have picnics with him on the weekends during those summers, and I vividly remember watching him climb his extension ladder, carrying bundles of shingles over his shoulder, thinking he must be so much stronger than everyone else’s dad.

As I entered my teenage years, we didn’t always see eye to eye. My impractical decisions and raging hormones did not mesh with his steady, black and white thinking. Yet he was always reliable, and one night just out of high school when I ran a stop sign coming home from a club and was t-boned by another car, he was the person I called. He calmly asked if everyone was ok, if I would be able to get my car home, offered to contact the insurance company and helped me navigate my ticket and the subsequent vehicle repairs. I remember crying to my friend when I got off the phone, choking on the words, “I love my dad so much”.

Married life and parenthood brought clarity and once again my dad became the example and opinion that mattered the most. We were blessed to have him move in with our family as he fought prostate cancer, a fight he ultimately lost at the age of 54. I will forever cherish those months, chatting every day, sharing meals, doing puzzles and watching our favorite shows and movies together. He taught us how to face hardship with grace, and when he asked me, after deciding that continued treatment was not the path he was choosing, if I thought he was “giving up”, I could honestly tell him, tears streaming down my face, “No, dad.. you’ve fought harder than anyone I know.” I lost my dad, my most influential person, a month shy of my 30th birthday. But that man taught me enough about life and how to live it well to last a hundred lifetimes.