Early Father's Day Special

"The father of a daughter is nothing but a high-class hostage. A father turns a stony face to his sons, berates them, shakes his antlers, paws the ground, snorts, runs them off into the underbrush, but when his daughter puts her arm over his shoulder and says, 'Daddy, I need to ask you something,' he is a pat of butter in a hot frying pan." -- Garrison Keillor 

Since we are going to be leaving town this Sunday (Alaskan cruise, anyone?) I wanted to do a special blog post about my dad a few days early for Father's Day. 


Introducing.....

 John Ralph Goodell (the John stern-stare)

Let me tell you a bit about my dad. 

My dad is a pretty cool guy. One of the coolest I know, in fact. Here are the basics about him: 

He was an only child growing up. His mom's name was Marilyn (hmmm... I may need to add that to my baby name list) and his dad's name was Ralph (hence the middle name). 

He went to Highland High where he was Captain of the Football team and also participated on the wrestling and track teams. He taught me how to throw a football spiral style once, I was pretty good at it, or so he told me...

He has two Bachelor's degrees in Finance and Mining Engineering, plus an MBA. After getting his first degree (I believe it was mining engineering) he served a mission in Detroit.

Sometime after marrying my mom at age 27 and getting his MBA, he started working for my Grandpa at Dan's Foods, where he eventually became Vice President. 

Everyone asked me if I got free groceries because my dad worked at Dan's. 

The answer is no, I didn't.

 (happy face picture, being the MC for my Grandpa's 90th Birthday Bash)

My dad also keeps in tip-top physical shape. When I was growing up, he would run just about everyday. He doesn't run everyday now, but he still gets a good workout in at least 5 days a week.

Something you may not know, but John Ralph Goodell is the clothes ironing KING. Yup, he is the guy who taught me how to iron a shirt. Do I still iron shirts today? Hmmm... not as much as I should, but at least I learned how to from the best.

 Dad, me, and my mom at graduation

Not only is he the ironing King, he is also the breakfast Prince (he can't be King yet, because my Grandpa still has that role). Whenever we go out of town, you can be sure that you will get a huge, delicious breakfast. Pancakes, eggs, potatoes, bacon and sausage, strawberries, orange juice, you name it and he will make it. Come up to the cabin with us sometime if you'd like to enjoy.

He loves Garrison Keillor, so I had to put a quote from him above, of course.

He also loovvvesss chocolate chip cookies. I usually give him a huge box of cookies for Christmas and his Birthday. 

My dad is a great guy with a big heart. He is always, and I mean always, soooo willing to help. He sees whatever needs to get done and he takes care of it. He will also sit on the phone and talk with me for about an hour once or twice a week, isn't he great?? I'm so lucky to have him and I love him so much. I love him so much that I needed to share his greatness with all of you.

Happy Father's Day to all Father's out there!