One of my earliest memories of my Dad was when he came dramatically to my rescue.

I was about 4 years old and pretty active. On one particularly active day, my mother was trying to clean the house and , as was recounted to me later,  I kept bouncing in and out of the house, leaving the door wide open and depositing little foot prints across her freshly mopped floor!

In frustration, she set me on the front steps, turned around and latched the screen door and told me to stay there until she came and told me I could get up.

Now, as a little background, my Dad worked for the Milwaukee-Chicago-St. Paul Railroad in the high desert of Eastern Washington as an electrical operator. This collection of 2 homes and a switch yard was so remote, it would take us about an hour just to get to the nearest grocery store. (The picture above is the actual house where we lived)

We may not have had much in the way of neighbors, but we did have plenty of wildlife and on this particular day  it was a rattlesnake. As I made my way to the bottom of the steps, I heard the fearsome warning  of a coiled rattlesnake…giving out it’s final warning not to come another step closer.

Even as a toddler, I knew the danger I was facing and did the only thing I knew to do…scream at the top of my lungs. I couldn’t get back in through the latched screen door and my screams were drowned out by the roar of the vacuum cleaner.

After what seemed like an eternity, Dad heard my terrified screams and came running up from the substation. After quickly accessing the situation, he grabbed a hoe and chopped off the rattler’s head…throwing the severed body onto the railroad tracks where it could cause no more damage.

Yes, Dads are often our heroes…

But every hero situation doesn’t always include life-or-death drama…

And while Dads are rarely my first point of contact when it comes to needing Real Estate services, it seems like they are always picking up the pieces, making sure their families are safe and secure, and sometimes shouldering a burden much larger than they anticipated.

Although I have seen many hero Dads over the last 15 year, I remember a couple  vividly…

There was Mike who had to pick up and finish moving his family of eight after his wife had an accident that left her bedridden for the next six month. He deserved a medal as he picked up the pieces, finished packing, coordinated care for the kids and got it all done…while still working a full-time job.

And Patrick…he learned first hand that the best laid plans can often go sideways just hours before closing. Exhaustion and exasperation where etched onto his face as he sat down to finalize his sale…but he had pulled off the impossible and his family was safely on their way to their new home. It was all worth it!

This Father’s Day, remember that Dads can be our heroes in many ways, whether by slaying a rattlesnake or just making sure they do everything possible so that your dream comes true.

Do you remember a time when your Father was your hero? Tell us about it in the comments below