My Father, My Best Friend
I am very proud to say that my father is one of my closest friends.
My Father, My Best Freind
We could not be more different. He is tall, fair, slim and calm. I am just the opposite – at least I think so. I am artistic while he is logical. I blow up at the slightest things while he is always almost eerily calm no matter how chaotic the situation I have caused.
People tell me that we look alike. Maybe it’s the Irish grin that creeps across both of our faces always at the wrong moment.
I wish we looked more alike. I wish I was more like him. I would give almost anything to be more like him.
My father is my best friend.
I know that is an outlandish statement in this day and age, but it is true. My father is my closest friend.
This was not always the case. When I was a kid he was dismayed to discover that I had no interest in passing any classes in school.
I got my start in music when he bet me his new banjo that I could not teach myself to play. He admitted years alter that this was not some sort of reverse-psychology deal. He really didn’t think I would pull it off, and was shocked when I won the bet three months later.
He may have lost his new banjo, but music wound up being a common ground for us. As I learned the language of music and started jamming with my father we found ourselves not only communicating, but also getting into all sorts of crazy adventures together. I was still in high school when we started performing together as The God Knows We Tried String Band.
Somewhere along the way between good shows and bad shows the two of us became friends.
As my hearing degenerated and eventually failed the bond I shared with my father only grew stronger. To this day my father and I can have entire conversations in the space of a single look.
Performing led to running a music festival. The festival led to a stage show. The stage show led to a radio show. The radio show led to the Internet. The Internet led to introducing tens of thousands of people around the world to the simple joy of homemade music.
It would take a large book to even begin telling you about the adventures I have had making music with my father. We have seen things, done things and laughed – we have laughed so much.
For a while now, my father and I have been running a small publishing company. I write books about playing the banjo and my father handles the business stuff. We randomly take breaks to watch old horror movies together. We make a lot of instructional videos for YouTube. Our students know me by my first name, but my father is, “Dear Old Dad”. I am very proud of that.
My father is one of the kindest and wisest man I have ever met. I am lucky to be his son, and privileged to be his friend.
I love you, pop. Happy Father's Day.