Giving It Your Best--and Then a Bit More

My mom and dad, in the mid-eighties. Handsome, yes?

With Father's Day approaching, I've been thinking a lot about my dad, who died at the far too young age of fifty-three. Here's my favorite Denny Stanfa story, which both my sisters remember experiencing, too:

Dad: Squeeze my hand. As hard as you can.

Me: (squeezing tight)

Dad: You're squeezing hard, right? Now, squeeze a bit harder. As tight as possible.

Me: (squeezing harder)

Dad: OK, now squeeze even a bit more.

Me: (squeezing, squeezing, squeezing)

Dad: Are you squeezing as hard as you can?

Me: (gasping) Yes, yes, as hard as I can.

Dad: (nodding) OK. Now, I want you to squeeze harder yet.

And, somehow, I managed to do just that.

This is why my sisters and I learned to never give up in most anything in our lives. My dad taught us that even when we thought we were giving something our all, we could always, always try a bit harder.

He may have been been gone for twenty-four years, but his life lessons live on. Thank you, Dad. xo

What's the best lesson one of your parents ever taught you?  Who in your life is gone and is missed the most? Could you have tried harder, that one time, before you gave up?