Today, at least in the United States, we celebrate Father’s Day, a day to honor every father for being just that – a father. On this occasion, I would like to write a little something about my own father, and what a tremendous impact he has had on my life, perhaps without fully realizing it.

Quality Time
Looking back on the last twenty-five or so years, or at least what I can remember of them (I am about to turn twenty-six, quite a scary number for a person who became an “adult” thirteen years ago, as it were) some of my happiest memories involve my father. This ranges from the variety of memory of us actively doing things, simply spending time together watching television or a film, and even some of the many conversations that we’ve had over the years.

Two of my favorite sub-categories of the “doing things” category would definitely be “going grocery shopping” and “going to garage sales.” Every Sunday, for a long time during my childhood, my father would go to the supermarket and I would go along to help him. It thusly came as a surprise to me when I heard that in most households the mother was the one who did the shopping for food. It seemed beyond comprehension. I suppose to a certain extent, what one experiences in ones own life, prior to seeing “outside” examples, seem the “standard” and normal as it were. My father was (and still is) a huge fan of clipping coupons. It is from here that I grew fond of the art of buying food in larger quantities when on sale, and watching for trends in price.

This also came through in our other wonderful “doing things” sub-category, that of going to garage sales. This also was largely done when I was younger, though we still do it once in a blue moon on a rare Sunday when I am in New Jersey and we see a sign for a garage sale on the street. What would happen during Garage Sale season (from the early spring until the mid to late fall, when the weather permitted it of course) we would go to about a dozen garage sales every weekend and find lots of really nice things for not much money. Numerous lessons on careful spending habits were learned here, not that I always find myself applying them, of course. I don’t think I would be such a big fan of half.com if it weren’t for going to garage sales with my father.

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