Hey everyone! I hope y’all are all having a great day celebrating Father’s Day. Grant and I had his parents, my parents and my grandparents over for lunch today at our house. Quality time together is always our preferred gift of choice on Holidays!

So for those of you who don’t already know, I grew up the daughter of a law enforcement officer. My dad was a deputy sheriff before I was born and then in 3rd grade the current sheriff decided to retire and asked my dad to run for office. He has been the county sheriff ever since.

Growing up, my dad was easily my favorite over my mom. He calls himself now Disneyland dad. Whenever he would have days off, we would play and go on adventures. He would always tell me that my outfits looked pretty and would say yes to just about any activity I would think of. But he was also the primary disciplinarian. Getting a spanking from my dad was always something I dreaded, but I would take it. He told me if I tried to talk my way out of it or turned away while he was whipping me, that it would only add on more of the punishment. So I would have to turn around and take my spanking to pay the consequence for whatever I had done wrong. Most of the time it was back talking my mom.

When I think of a lot of the valuable characteristics and life’s lessons I have learned from my dad, they are all very related also to his profession. I don’t think that he taught me things around his profession, but I think he found his profession based on who he truly was, the morals he stood on, and a job that was a direct reflection of his personality. Since I’ve launched this blog, I wanted to be more transparent with my followers and I also wanted to write things that I could look back on in the future years and enjoy reading. So I want to share a few things that I learned being raised by a Texas Sheriff.

1. He taught me right from wrong. Right was right and wrong was wrong. There was never really any gray area that I can think of. Now I thoroughly enjoyed the “right” way more than the “wrong” because that normally meant that I learned it was “wrong” after doing so, which meant punishment.

2. My dad taught me to follow the rules. My dad is a “the rules are in place for a reason” type of a man. I of course would try my hardest to walk right on that line sometimes (and I still even do at times), but I was always aware of the rules and knew from my dad’s teachings that I was supposed to follow them. And if for some reason I still felt that I had to break the rules, he taught me forgiveness is easier to be granted than permission!

3. Very similar to learning right from wrong – my dad taught me what it means to portray integrity. He taught me to be honest, always tell the truth and face the truth and to stand up for what I believe in (even if I was standing alone).

4. For those of you who know me well know that I am a “justice” type of a person. This hands down was bred into me because of my dad. When growing up if I did wrong then I had to admit it, be honest and say that I did it wrong and then I had to get my “right and just” treatment if you will. Just like the bad guys who got caught, went to jail and had to go before the court.

5. To follow up on justice, my dad taught me what consequences are. I remember when I was in my teenage years I would ask and try to persuade my dad like “can I really not do something that you told me not to do” and he would answer that I could make any choice I wanted to, however I knew what the consequences would be. So he would tell me that if I was still willing to pay the consequence or if I thought the consequence was still worth doing the action, then I could go ahead and make whatever decision I wanted. I am so grateful for my dad’s approach. This way I didn’t feel I was being controlled, but his strong implementation of consequences always made me re-think my actions. And if my dad told me the consequence, again there was no way of getting out of it. And if I tried to get out of it, the punishment only got worse. In a world where so much is “brushed under the rug” and punishment is becoming less and less, much like my dad, I still believe in paying for your actions. If more people thought before doing an action whether or not the consequence was worth it, I think we would live in a better place.

6. My dad taught me to be a leader and to be strong enough to stand alone. Leading does not always just mean leading the people, but it also means being willing to stand up and lead even when you are alone. For if you don’t stand for something, then you’ll fall for anything. My dad is a leader based on his actions first and then his words to follow, and that is exactly the type of a leader that I aspire to be.

7. I learned to have strong characteristic traits from my dad and that the things I say and words I talk will mirror my character. My dad doesn’t say bad things about many people. He is actually always there to help the people in need, no matter how bad the issue or the time of day or night it might require. However, as you could suspect in politics, there have been some people who have blatantly wronged my dad. But where I have really learned to respect my dad on this matter is that he doesn’t let it become personal. Because those few people actually do wrong in many of their actions is why my dad will stand up against them for what is right. And that is a hard trait to have, especially in this socially accepted world we live in. My dad is strong and pure in his beliefs, the words he says, the promises he makes and the follow through he takes in all of his actions. For this, I am thankful to have been raised by such a strong and just lawman. You’re not going to hear my dad say one thing, but his actions show something else. I aim for this same quality to be true about myself.

8. My dad taught me (again by his actions over his words) that he was committed to his wife over my brothers and I. I can think back to childhood days with my dad when we would have so much fun together. At the end of the day when my mom would come home from work, I would get a little too comfortable and think that my dad would choose me or have my back if I decided to not listen or disrespect my mom. Boy would I get my heart broke to find out that my dad would stand up for my mom over me. Now that I’m older, rightfully so and lot of “atta boys” from me to my dad on this matter. Nothing would hurt me more than having to get a spanking because of something I did wrong to my mom, but from my dad. Any bit of a try to manipulate my parents, they stuck together and I ended up in trouble. I’m not sure why I thought I (at a young age) could outsmart the two of them combined???

9. My dad has taught me to not forget about those who have helped me going up the ladder. So many want to get to the top, but there are so many people along the way who help get us there. My dad still remembers who his first and strongest supporters were in his very first Sheriff’s race. Even some 20 years later, he is still thankful for them and their support.

10. I learned how to live and love and be courageous and adventurous because my dad encouraged me and allowed me to be. He will easily say that raising me meant every day was a different adventure. At 29 years, I still feel this way about my life. What a wonderful blessing that was instilled by my dad from when I was a little girl.

The older I get, the more I respect and appreciate the type of dad that I had growing up. I have met so many people over the years who have not had a father or else they had one, but maybe not a very good one. The older I get, the luckier I feel to have the people in my life who have taught me the lessons I have learned to become the woman I am today. If you’re reading this blog, will you take a short moment to thank you dad (or any type of a father influence that you have) for the lessons that you have learned, even if it means speaking up to heaven or visiting a graveside. Because something else that I begin to see more and more crystal clear with each year that passes is that none of us get to be who we are or where we are in life without the help and sometimes even sacrifices from others. Thank you dad for being strong in who you are and for teaching me (by your actions over your words) to strive to be a woman who stands upon integrity and honesty in all that I do.

Below are some beautiful photos taken by Luke and Cat of my dad and me on the day I married Grant. I think riding up on a Unicorn horse and carriage with my dad in a black cowboy hat along with his tuxedo may be one of my favorite adventures with him yet.

Here’s one beautiful photo of my Grandfather and I on wedding day sharing a dance. This man taught me the value of hard work, what it means to sweat, that minimum wage used to be “two bits an hour”, how to earn the dinner I would eat and how I should always clean my plate because not everybody was fortunate enough to have a home cooked meal on the table.

And then I also had to share a story my dad told Grant about me earlier today. You should be able to relate to why he was my favorite when I was a little girl.

My quote to end this post is something that I used to have printed in all of my dressing rooms when Southern Jewlz still had a store front and that was “Character is who you are when you think nobody is watching.”

xo,