My Dad is My Hero

Anyone can be a father, but it takes someone special to be a dad. I remember when I was little my sisters and I would race to the corner of the street and we would wait. What would we wait for? We would wait for my father to come home from a long day at work. Even though he would be tired from working all day, I always saw his face light up and he would pick us up one by one, we would offer to carry his bag and he loved every moment of it..at least that's what I tell myself. My dad was never the type to go golfing on the weekends, he would be fixing up the house or working on some outdoor project to make a beautiful yard. He built a patio, a pond and dug out his own garden, built his own sheds and let's not forget the Ikea furniture that we would assist him with. I liked going on road trips with him behind the wheel. He was almost a super hero being able to see when the night came out and he never hit a deer (at least to my knowledge) I could always sleep in the car knowing he was behind the wheel.

There is one memory that sticks out to me the most. Eliston Park, Okanagan it was the summer of ‘04. We were camping I remember this being a very hot day, the sun was beating down on my sun bleached hair, freckles were speckled on my nose from being in the sun. I had finished blowing up an air mattress using just my lungs and I was getting excited about going down to the lake to cool off. My older sisters though were in no rush to get down to the lake, they were taking their sweet time getting ready. I was already changed and impatiently tapping my foot and getting restless. I was pacing when my oldest sister emerged from the tent ready to go.

“Finally we can go!” I said and I picked up the mattress which I had inflated myself.

“Hold on, I need to get my shoes on,” she said and I hung my head.

“How much time do you need?” I complained loudly.

“Okay, now we can go,” she told me.

I headed down the used and downhill concrete path in my Old Navy flip flops. I was well ahead of my oldest sister and I suddenly lost my footing. My flip flop folded over itself and I went flying down onto the pavement. I got up and dusted myself off.

“Oh don’t look down,” my sister warned and I had every instinct to not take my sister’s advice.

I glanced down at my knee the skin had been ripped off, warm blood started to pool around my foot and it was streaming down my leg. I cried out and tears came I tried to hold them back, but I couldn’t and before I knew it I was blubbering and tears cascaded down on my face. My sister rushed me to the washroom and she ran back to the campsite to get help. A hiker had noticed me crying in the bathroom she dug into her bag and handed me a band-aid.

“Don’t worry you will be fine,” she said as calmly as she could. “Where’s your family?” She asked me.

“My sister went to get my dad,” I said as I took breaths in between words.

“Okay, I’ll stay here until they get back,” she reassured me. She continued to ask me various questions about myself just basic stuff like where I’m from and how old I am.

My sister came back with my dad and I had a hard time walking, she held my hand and I hobbled towards my dad. My dad decided to take me on his back, I was weighing approximately 63kg or 140 lbs at the time. He leaned forward and he moved up the hill. I felt like I was four years old again, my dad teased that he was going to drop me, but we made it safely back to the campsite.

My dad helped me sit down in the car and we drove into town. I remember stopping by this little clinic. They had no one in the waiting room and I watched the television for about five minutes before being called in. I was glad my dad was with me, if it had been my mom she was hysterical and it would have made me tense. The doctor was young and had blonde hair. He could not stop talking about skiing and “hitting the slopes” with his fiancé. He plunged the needle into my knee and started to sew the wound closed and I watched as he put in the six stitches. My dad’s calm demeanour didn’t make me throw up or anything while the doctor stitched me up. My dad has always been there for me during medical emergencies and anything. This is why my dad is my hero.