Father daughter inspiration

On this Father's Day, I'm thinking about my Dad, now in his 70's who's always been there for me, listened to me and encouraged me.

He's also an inspiration to me to this day as he continues to put his heart and soul into things that matter to him: local politics, college football, community service. He's also my go to guy to discuss movies, books, current events. To this day, I still seek his council and bounce ideas off of him.

When I was younger, he was my tennis coach starting at the age of nine. (A Chris Evert wanna-be, I picked up my first wood racquet in the late 60's and haven't put it down since-- although now it's made of graphite.) We had our ups and downs as most "tennis fathers" and their daughters do. But I am thankful to him for instilling a competitive and tenacious attitude in me on the tennis court which I believe has served me well in all other aspects of my life.

Because my Dad helped me take up tennis, athletics has always been a part of my life. I believe every girl should have some sport they do to empower herself emotionally. It doesn't matter what the sport is as long as she enjoys it.

But I digress. My dad has also always been supportive of my creative aspirations. It's his artistic traits that I'm sure I've always looked up to and made me want to be a writer and artist myself. (When I was very little, my dad wrote a children's book called Shelbylove. It was about a star. And while it was never published, that creative "dream" of his was somehow transferred to me. My dad was in a movie called the Big Carnival with Kirk Douglas when he was a teenager. Check him out on IMDB. He also starred in a local production of "Our Town" when I was growing up. He was a reporter in New Mexico, a PR man for a cement company and spent most of his career in sales at Dunn and Bradstreet. In addition to helping out with political campaigns in Colorado, my dad is also a big college football fan. Hook 'em Horns! I grew up with him ringing a cowbell during University of Texas games. So committed to college football, he writes and manages a website about it. He has always had many friends that look to him for wisdom and just great company. He can also be a great curmudgeon at times, too.

I love you Dad! Thanks for all that you do and continue to do for me.
Copyright © Sharna Fulton 2010. All Rights Reserved.