Me Thinks

My summation of the book: I really enjoyed this book. There were many different kinds of Dads; strict, super nice, educated and driven, or uneducated and hard working nonetheless.  The book was inspiring because of the relationships and mentoring that happens between a child and their father.  Great impressions are made and character is molded by the actions of fathers with their children.

A couple excerpts:

I was born during a winter in Utah that went down both in record and lore as the worst ever, blizzards flattening the bushes and stealing your breath away, snow so thick and hard and unrelenting that it closed the road next to our home for several days.  My brothers, still young and delivering newspapers on wobbly bikes, wanted to quit their job as paper boys.  My father's answer was simple, a portrait of him in a brushstroke: "You can quit in the summer when it's easy," he said, "but you can't quit in the winter when it storms." When the riding is hard and the wind is fierce, that's when you keep on, reach down deep into yourself, and find your strength.  You must be a pillar, a rock, unearth your hidden resources, mine your gold. 

(Maurine Proctor, speaking of her dad Joel P. Jensen, pg. 236)

He always made it clear to me that the choices before me were mine and mine only, yet I always knew he was there to add guidance as necessary.  I was never allowed to leave the house--even to this day, at the age of forty-four years--without hearing from my father the following instruction: "Remember who you are and what you stand for." I am so thankful for the repeated advice I received despite my repeated attempts either to sneak out the door without my father knowing or to sprint  through the door and get away before he could give his final words.  From him I learned that I could never escape my heritage or my privilege and responsibility to honor our family's name and our Father in Heaven's plan for us all.

(Bronco Mendenhall, speaking about his dad Paul Mendenhall, pg. 136)