717 Magazine's June issue - Father's Day piece

As many of you know, June is Father's Day.

For me, it's been only in the last ten years that I genuinely started taking notice and really admiring what my dad had accomplished in his life. I'll be the first to admit, it wasn't easy growing up with a father who didn't have a point of reference to the sort of time I grew up in. He grew up in the 20s and 30s, got drafted into WWII during college and became a father in his fifties. It's no wonder that he didn't quite see eye to eye with me about many things.

Growing up, my dad was always the one who wanted to see me be a good person, grow up responsible and find a career that would benefit others, such as being in politics, becoming a doctor or getting into the military,  like he did. Instead I told him I wanted to focus on art because it's always been a strength of mine ever since I was old enough to hold a crayon. Needless to say, we had a few clashes over the years about my choice of profession.

Once I found the job at Harrisburg Magazine when I was 20, he started to understand what it was that I set out to do. Granted, I'm hoping to do more with my career than just ads in magazines, but it meant a lot when dad could see each month what I was doing with my days at the office. Suddenly his son wasn't thought of as a starving artist with the intent to cut off his ear and die penniless, only to become famous after his death.

Over the last few years my dad hit more than his share of bumps along the road of life. His health and his memory aren't what they used to be, and I'll be honest, I really wish that the 30 year old me could sit down with the 50 year old him and talk about life. I don't feel like I was robbed of that because we have had talks over the last decade where I understood he's proud of what I've accomplished so far in my life. Sure, I'm still fumbling a bit and learning as I go, but all in all, I'd say I'm better than not and I have my parents to thank for that.

Anyway, long story short, in the 717 Magazine's June issue I was asked to take part with my dad in a Q&A for Father's Day. Since I'm the Production Manager at the office, I thought I'd take the digital file from the page with my portion of the Q&A and show it off a little bit. It really feels weird being in the magazine, even though I've been in it twice before this. Plus, my dad was already in it once before, last February when he recounted his meeting with General Dwight D. Eisenhower.