16 Meaningful Things My Dad Tells Me That Don't Include "I Love You"

Once I reached the age where I was completely capable of cooking for myself, my parents didn't need to feed me anymore, but they did. My mom was usually in charge of food, but every so often when I was tired after cheerleading practice or had to be at school for a football game, my dad would throw dinner together for me to not only help me out but to also give my mom a break. Double win!

I call my parents every night while I'm walking home from work, and my dad always answers the phone. Every single day, he asks how work was, if it was busy, what I got done, etc. And it's not a throwaway question — he asks every day because he actually wants to know.

I save all my voicemails from my dad that simply say, "It's just Dad, calling to check in. Talk to you later, love you." Sometimes he'll call to actually tell me something, but sometimes he really is just calling to say "hi" and check in, and those times are special because he just felt like saying "hi."

My dad just sent me a birthday card this year, and after the sweet birthday message, he wrote, "Miss you" and underlined it. It's never easy living hundreds of miles away from home.

Almost every time I fly in to visit my parents, they ask me if I'll want food when I get home. (The answer is always yes to food.) Just about every time we walk in the door from the airport, my dad will say, "I made you a plate of leftovers; it's in the fridge if you want it."

When I was a teenager, this annoyed me, because I felt like I should be able to do whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. It wasn't until I got older that I realised my dad just wanted to make sure I was safe, wherever I was.

Every day when I talk to my dad, after he asks how work was, he asks if I've written any more stories. He asks even though he knows the answer, because he has my author pages bookmarked on his iPad and checks them every single day. Hi, Dad, I know you're reading this.

My dad and I do a lot of road trips, which means we stop at a lot of McDonald's. It doesn't matter how hungry my dad might be, he'll always offer me the end of his French fries because they're my favourite.

My parents weren't necessarily the type to ply me with money and things to get me off their backs, but they always made sure I had what I needed. My dad would leave me lunch money on the counter just about every morning in high school, because I was too busy to have an actual job that would pay for my own food.

My dad is intelligent and stubborn, and when he first started admitting that I was right about things, it was a whole new world for me. It means a great deal to me for someone I look up to to say that I'm right, and he agrees with my opinion.

"Thank you" is so simple to say but means so much. My dad has thanked me for a lot, just as I've thanked him, and each one is an implied "I love you" as well, from both of us.