Honoring Our Fathers: My Dad, the SuperHero

[MUSIC PLAYING] My name is Jessica Baskin. I’m the Assistant Online Producer for Guideposts.com. And I am going to tell you why my father is a superhero. So when I was a kid, I was a competitive figure skater. And at one point, I was going to a competition in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, which is about 45 minutes from where I lived in upstate New York. And it was the first time I was ever going to try my axel jump, which, if you know anything about figure skating or the figure skating world, is a really big deal. 

My coach volunteered to take me to this competition in Pittsfield because my parents at the time, they were taking care of my grandmother, who was very ill, and they were very tired. So we decided to give them a day off. We drive out to Pittsfield, and we get to the competition. And we open the back of the car, and everything’s in the back of the car, except for my skates, which we apparently left back in New York. 

So my coach calls up my dad, wakes him up from his slumber on a Saturday morning, and tells him the situation. And my father, without even hesitating, jumps out of bed, drives across town to my coach’s house, opens her garage door, finds my skates on the floor in the garage, grabs them, throws them in the car, drives top speeds, must have violated so many speed limits– like, I don’t even know– to get to Pittsfield, where the competition officials allowed me to skate in a later group. 

And they were about to get on the ice for the warm up, and I still didn’t have my skates. And I was looking out the window at the rink, and there comes my dad, barreling through the parking lot. Goes up to the curb, drives up on the curb, opens the door, runs out, leaves the car on– at the curb, and comes upstairs and gives me my skates, just in time for me to get on the ice. And I got on the ice, and I skated the program with my life. 

And I came in second, and that was a really big deal because I was skating against girls, who were three, four years older than me, who had more skills. So it was a really proud and exciting day. And I had no one to thank but my father, who defied the laws of gravity and physics to get me my skates, so that I could skate in the competition. Thanks again, Dad. I’ve thanked you millions of times, and I will thank you millions of times from now on. And have a really Happy Father’s Day.