Hats Off

I could write a book about how thankful I am to have two loving parents, brothers who mean the absolute world to me, and an extended family that shows their love through cards and calls no matter how much time passes between visits.

But today’s post is all about my dad, who is hands down one of my biggest fans, an incredible role model, a fellow adventurer, and someone who is continually teaching me the value of both hard work and making time to appreciate life’s gifts. If I ever need a good laugh, a reminder that “money doesn’t grow on trees”, a gin rummy partner, someone to blast country music with, a pep talk, a beach walking buddy, or a fellow Cuevana viewer, he’s my go-to choice. I recognize that having a father like mine is not a given in this world; all I can hope is that I let him know often enough just how much he means to me. I received this email from him this week and felt like the roles had been switched and I was the proud parent:

"Dear Family,
We just got out of our annual Hitoshi award ceremony and I am happy to announce that Hitoshi voted me, “SALESMEN OF THE YEAR” with my sales region grossing 3.73M with a growth of 22.46%, the most in the company.
I wanted to thank you all for your constant support and encouragement throughout the year, without a strong family unit achieving this milestone in my sales career would not have been possible.
I love you….
Kind Regards,
Richard Messier"

To get you up to speed, Hitoshi is his boss, he manages sales in 7 states and 2 Canadian provinces (which means a lot of travel and heck of a lot of responsibility), and he has absolutely worked his butt off this year to achieve this award. He also shot a hole-in-one, qualified for one of the traveling USGA men’s teams, and is a member of the defending mix-doubles tennis team who won the league at the regional USTA championship last year.

But beyond all that he has accomplished, who he is makes him that much more awesome in my eyes… he is dependable, present, supportive, hard-working, fun, a life-lover, dreamer, organizer (now you know where I get it from), and world traveler who has passed that passion on to all of us kids. Now don’t get me wrong, like the rest of us he is imperfect, but he hasn’t let the important things slide no matter what is thrown his way, and for that I will always hold him in the highest regard.

All subjectivity aside, my pops is quite simply an all-star and I am beyond proud to be his daughter ☺