Happy Father's Day Dad!

Here's a picture that's a few years old of my dad and mom in front of the Mackinaw Bridge in northern Michigan. And another in front of the Alamo. My dad, a veteran of the Korean war meet my mom while stationed in Japan. They raised four kids, me being the youngest in Cincinnati, Ohio. He was a cook in the army and spent most of his life running restaurants in southern Ohio. I remember his employees always telling us what a great boss he was. I, also got the pleasure of working during college with my father in the summers. I was always amazed how he worked harder than anyone else in the restaurant. While, most managers would sit around and order their staff to clean the table, serve the food or fill the damn salt shakers, I would see him busing tables and helping waiters serve the food. He wasn't good at delegating work, but you love'd to work for him. He now lives a comfortable life in retirement just north of Cincinnati.

Dad, they should make one of those beer ads for you. It would go something like this:

Deep Voice Announcer Guy: Sons everywhere present Real American Heroes

Scratchy Voiced Singer: Real American Heroes.

Deep Voice Announcer Guy: Today we salute you, Joe Monahan, dad to Margie, Thom, Theresa and Pat.

Scratchy voiced singer: Mr. Monahan, dad of four.

Deep Voice Announcer Guy: You had the courage to raise two daughters and two sons. To keep them on the straight and narrow. To work long hours in the food industry and to serve your country in it's time of need.

Scratchy voiced singer: Sit up straight and eat your veggies.

Deep Voiced Announcer Guy: You took your family on some great vacations to Florida, Tennessee and to Niagara Falls.

Scratchy voiced singer: Play some putt putt in the smokey mountains.

Deep Voiced Announcer Guy: So crack open another beer and enjoy your Cincinnati Reds as they battle out of the NL Central cellar. The Reds maybe last, but Joe Monahan, you're first in the minds of your family.

Scratchy voiced singer: Your a great dad, I hope you know it.

Happy Father's Day Dad!

I, also want to wish a happy father's day to my father-in-law, Harry Potter. Yes, that's him with his daughter, Amy (my wife of 21 wonderful years). He gave my son signed copies of the first two Harry Potter books. We enjoy the coincidence, but I'm not sure he does.

We celebrated Father's Day on Saturday. I started the day, as you know, by running a 5k. Then, after lunch and before a listing appointment I had scheduled at 1 pm, I got to open presents. My daughter gave me a Beatles CD. I'll add the songs to my Ipod and get some new stuff (old stuff) to run to. My son gave me a copy of The Natural with Robert Redford. I really like baseball movies. Then my wife, Amy gave me a Flat Screen TV for my office. We usually don't buy expensive items for each other. We're pretty conservative. But, every few years either she or I surprise each other with something special. I wasn't expecting this, but I sure do like it. I then went to my listing appointment were I am listing a new townhome in Tempe. You can learn more about it at http://www.townhomesonly.com/ or my townhome blog. Finally, I got to watch the Reds beat the Rangers on my new TV and write this post.