I really consider myself blessed to be part of a family that has taught me so many lessons growing up. There is one man in my life that I have to give a big thanks to, my dad. To me, my dad is my rock and someone who instilled their love for animals, hard work, and agriculture. To my dad, I am his crazy daughter who doesn’t take no for an answer, and has ludicrous ideas that I make him help me with. I mean, what are dads for if you can’t make them help you with a wooden cutout of a cow? There are a couple of things my dad always said to me that I have never given a second thought, until this year. So I would like to share some of my dad’s many lectures/lessons or sayings to me. (Disclaimer: My dad speaks Spanish so I am translating these)
“Okay Superwoman, Go, and Save the World.”
This saying arose shortly after the beginning of my senior year. I found myself spending less and less time at home as I raced off in the mornings to an officer meeting and didn’t get home until nine because I had an alumni meeting, a heifer to take care of, and a tennis game. As I would jet off, I would kiss my parents goodbye and apologize for leaving in a rush. Then, my dad would say “okay superwoman, go, and save the world” This added so much meaning to everything I did. I didn’t realize that every action that I took that day would have an effect on my future or help someone out.
“Angie, don’t date until you are married.”
That isn’t even possible. How are you supposed to get married before you ever date? Although my dad wasn’t being literal with this saying he wanted me to take something out of it. Now while for the longest time I just thought he didn’t want to see his daughter date, I now know what he really wanted. See, this saying would always come after a day of working with him. He never wanted me to have to depend on someone else in life. He would make me go work with him on the ranch breaking horses, fixing fences, and mow the yard whenever I had the time. He didn’t want me to be afraid of work, or for me to think that I needed to depend on someone else’s work to live. He always finished it up with something like “You settle yourself first before you settle down with a life partner”
“You do what you want.”
This one in particular is my favorite because it came from me joking around with my dad all the time. I would always respond “I’ll do what I want” to whatever my dad use to say. Whether it was to walk the dogs or come to the table for supper. I always ended up doing it anyways, because you should always listen to your parents, but I wanted him to know that I did it because I wanted to and not because he told me. This resulted in him turning the tables on me whenever I would ask for favors of him. However, when I got elected this past June he looked at me with tears in his eyes and said “You’ll Do What You Want.” I realized that I started my swine SAE even though my dad thought it was a bad idea, and I hosted a pageant even though I didn’t get a lot of support, and I decided to run for state office because I did what I wanted.
If there is something I have really learned in life, it is this: listen to your parents. Yup, that’s right. It may not always seem like it, but they do know what they are talking about. I value all the lessons my dad has said to me over the years because I keep them with me every day. I believe in learning from your mistakes, but I also believe in learning from other’s mistakes. So take time and next time your parents lecture you, listen to them.
Forever blue,
Angie Patino
Area VI State Vice President
