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"In honor of Father&amp;amp;#8217;s Day, I wanted to have a chance to ask my dad some questions about relationships, but more importantly, I wanted to show him off to all you Smitten readers. I love my dad! Like many a daddy&amp;amp;#8217;s girl, I think my father is one of the greatest men I&amp;amp;#8217;ve ever known. Although I am of course biased, I can assure you I&amp;amp;#8217;m not overselling him. People flock to my dad. He&amp;amp;#8217;s smart, he&amp;amp;#8217;s beyond hilarious, and he&amp;amp;#8217;s an awesome cook (my brother-in-law cites his famous chicken wings as a reason for wanting to marry my sis). I&amp;amp;#8217;ve learned a lot of stuff from my dad over the years. A few important lessons? Buddy Holly made awesome music, always keep a big bottle of hot sauce in the house, and do NOT touch your cards at the Black Jack table until the dealer is finished. My dad has also taught me a lot about love. Like I did with my mom for Mother&amp;amp;#8217;s Day, I asked my dad to answer a few questions about relationships. He gave me some great answers, but I also realized some of the best lessons he&amp;amp;#8217;s taught me he&amp;amp;#8217;s done by example. Combining our chat and his example, here are six things I&amp;amp;#8217;ve learned about all kinds of love from my father: Since you can&amp;amp;#8217;t be prepared for all the problems that pop up in life, just be prepared to face them together with your partner. On marriage, my dad says, &amp;amp;#8220;Even if you live together for a while before you marry (who does that?)*, you&amp;amp;#8217;ll be surprised by how things change, like with budgets--especially with new purchases like cars, homes, kids, etc. Don&amp;#x27;t leave out the in-laws accepting the out-laws and vice versa. Really a multitude of problems and issues pop up that you never dreamed existed. But now you&amp;amp;#8217;re a team. Remember that &amp;quot;two heads are better than one&amp;quot; and things will work out. If you don&amp;#x27;t see this team thing shaping up before marriage- be fearful!&amp;quot; (Guys, my dad always says &amp;quot;Be fearful,&amp;quot; especially when I&amp;#x27;m driving somewhere.) *Note: He&amp;amp;#8217;s kidding&amp;amp;#8212;my parents lived together before they got married. I remember being so scandalized when I first found that out as a teenager! Believe that love can happen at any time, and then go for it. In my current single (and not quite over my last heartbreak) stage of life, I&amp;amp;#8217;ve gotten a little skeptical when I meet new guys. When I read what my dad said about my mom, it made me remember that I need to believe: &amp;amp;#8220;I was fairly sure I wanted to marry your mother while we were still on our first date. I don&amp;#x27;t know if I believe in &amp;quot;love at first sight&amp;quot;, but this was probably about as close as it gets. From the moment I first saw her I was excited just to be with her, plus she was extremely hot! I&amp;#x27;m surprised we even waited a couple of years to tie the knot.&amp;quot; I love hearing about my parents&amp;#x27; romance, and I can attest that after all these years, they are still kind of gushy about each other. Don&amp;amp;#8217;t let technology get in the way of talking. I asked my dad for advice he would give to young couples, and instead of the old, &amp;amp;#8220;Back in my day, we had to walk uphill to our weddings in the snow with bare feet,&amp;amp;#8221; old guy kind of talk, he actually said that couples today have it harder! &amp;amp;#8220;Times have really changed. There may be a lot more stress on you guys, but I think the real problem is that verbal communication has come to a screeching halt. I&amp;#x27;m sorry that I sound so old, but it is really different when there is so much texting and e-mailing. Things don&amp;#x27;t sound and come out the same--your feelings and true communication gets lost. You guys need to go more verbal! Those are my thoughts and I&amp;#x27;m sticking with them now can you come home and bring me a wheelchair and take me to the home.&amp;amp;#8221; HA! Don&amp;amp;#8217;t be ridiculous Dad. I can&amp;amp;#8217;t afford a home. But don&amp;amp;#8217;t underestimate the power of the old-fashioned written note. This isn&amp;amp;#8217;t from something my dad said, but instead from something I have seen him do over the years. He has a habit of adding a little yellow Post-it with a note on it whenever he mails somebody anything. Care packages, birthday gifts, the scratch off lottery tickets my grandma loves. When I visited my cousin recently, I noticed a familiar sticky note with my dad&amp;amp;#8217;s writing on it hanging in her office. When my other grandma (my mom&amp;amp;#8217;s mom) passed away a few years ago, we found an envelope at her desk filled with Post-its from my dad. Everybody loves and treasures my dad&amp;amp;#8217;s little hellos. Sending a loved one the occasional note for no reason at all, other than to make them smile, is such a great thing to do. Not a Post-it, but another note from Dad, made with the Christmas present I made him--Scrabble magnets! He plays a mean Words With Friends game. A family is an investment, but worth it. Dad says, &amp;amp;#8220;Having kids is like buying house! You&amp;#x27;re always changing their exterior, sinking money into their interior, and usually refinancing a couple of times in their lifetime. But you know what? Raising kids, just like maintaining your home, joins you and your mate together in a common bond and makes everything a little stronger.&amp;amp;#8221; Honestly, I&amp;#x27;m not sure my parents have seen much of a return on the investment they made in me, but I&amp;#x27;m happy that my dad seems to think so. Be proud of the people you love, and make sure they know it. Again, this is one my dad has shown me by his actions. When I was in law school, my parents flew to New York and California to watch me strut my lawyer stuff in Moot Court competitions (OK, it didn&amp;amp;#8217;t hurt that they got to go to the beach too). I will never forget the toast my dad made, with tears in his eyes, after watching my oral arguments. And when I quit my law job and starting writing for Smitten, he was proud of me even though I think he thought I was crazy. Having his support has always meant the world to me. Ahem. I appear to have something in my eye. Excuse me while I compose myself for a minute, but in the meantime, what do you think of my dad&amp;amp;#8217;s love lessons? Happy Father&amp;#x27;s Day, Dad. I love you! Isn&amp;amp;#8217;t my dad a sweetie? He&amp;amp;#8217;ll be totally embarrassed by that because he&amp;amp;#8217;s also a real dude&amp;amp;#8217;s dude, but he&amp;amp;#8217;s all softie on the inside. What&amp;amp;#8217;s the best advice your dad&amp;amp;#8217;s ever given you? What lessons have you learned from him? More on fathers: *What Was Your Dad Like? *10 Adorable Celebrity Dads and Their Cutie-Pie Kids *Smitten Photo Time: We Adore Our Dads! "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.glamour.com/sex-love-life/blogs/smitten/2012/06/6-awesome-things-my-dad-taught>