Dad, kudos on Father's Day

Everyone has little sayings and mottos they live by. Some value the lessons the Bible teaches, maybe a proverb from their homeland or maybe like me, they value sayings they were taught by their father.\nIt's a known fact that my dad has witty comebacks and sarcastic one-liners. One of the small joys I experienced once in college was that no one knew my dad's little sayings, so I could use them freely and appear just as clever as he did. \nMy dad has never been one for confrontation or fighting, but if tested, he will launch a verbal war on you so fast you'll wonder how you got caught in this crossfire and wish you could retreat to your foxhole. \nThroughout my life, I have challenged and pushed my dad on many topics. In every attempt to get him going, he always gives me a fair warning. "Don't throw fire at me, scarecrow," he'll say to me.\nAt first I didn't take his threats seriously, but after losing many battles with him I now steer clear of these encounters. I do, however, use that saying when in a verbal battle with my friends. Unlike my dad, my bark is worse then my bite. \nIt is also a known fact that, as a little girl, I was a nosey tattle-tale. It always used to bug me that my brother was allowed to stay up later than me and or ride his bike farther down the road than me. When I would march up to my dad to make this complaint, he would simply reply with, "Maggie, you need to learn to worry about yourself. When you have yourself under control, then you can worry about other people."\nWhen my dad would say this to me, it would make my blood boil. The injustice of the situation would not be remedied and my dad had bombed me with another saying. Yet, as I have grown up, I realized the underlying theme of this message. It was not just to mind my own business but to focus on bettering my life instead of making others' lives worse.\nI would like to say during my teenage years I was not as difficult or as hard to raise as most, but I had my moments. On numerous occasions I wanted do things and go places that my dad wouldn't allow. I would always say to him, "but (fill in a blank with a friend) parents are letting them go" or "do you know what (fill in the blank again) parents said?"\nThen my dad would get this look in his eye, like you have taken this issue too far and say to me one of two things, either "I am not worried about your friends and what their parents let them do" or "DKDC" -- don't know, don't care.\nI look back on those moments and am thankful that my dad protected me and saved me from as much as he did. Though, sometimes when he asks me what my friends are doing I will tell him, "I am not worried about what they are \ndoing." \nMany children, teens and young adults aren't fortunate enough to have people to care and love them, let alone have a wealth of worldly knowledge instilled in them. Sure, your dad says things that embarrass you and some days you wish he wouldn't say those little mottos to you. But you should be thankful to have such a good father on your team.