Happy Father's Day, Dad; you're a great role model.

Byline: Grace Stopher/20Below News Team/The Register-Guard

After 15 years of receiving Father's Day presents from me, my dad probably owns every woodworking tool ever invented, and his drawers are absolutely overflowing with multicolored neckties.

So this year, I didn't buy him anything for yesterday's big day. Instead, I thought I'd write about him.

I've always wondered why my dad is so important to me. Every family is different, but what I've learned from my dad - and what I've yet to learn - is more than can fit into a 500-word column.

For example, despite how frustrated I get with his rules and expectations, I'm really learning how to be responsible. Often, I forget that my dad was, believe it or not, once a teenager like me, and that he's already learned his lessons. Now he's passing those lessons on to me.

In addition, my dad has the most passionate work ethic of anyone I know, and I think that is one of the key lessons he is trying to teach me right now. He likes doing everything himself if he can, and strongly believes in the motto, "work before pleasure." Like most teenagers, I find this to be the hardest rule to abide by. I don't understand how my dad manages to work, work, work, without complaining until the job is finished, but it is definitely something I look up to. Someday, I hope to have that same drive that will help me succeed as my dad has succeeded.

But fathers don't only have to be role models. In fact, my dad enjoys nothing more than spending time on our boat, and he always seems to be asking friends to join us for pleasantly lazy days at the lake. Even my friends think he's pretty cool. He has certainly earned his place as the entertainer of the family.

Furthermore, my dad is, above all, my prime model of an ideal man. He's taught me what I should and should not tolerate and how I should expect any guy to treat me. For example, he has the respect of a gentleman and strongly believes in opening doors and letting ladies go first.

I think fathers are meant to educate their daughters the fundamentals of life. My dad is my protection, my role model and even a confidant whom I can ask advice. I have faith that he'll always be there when I need him, and so far he's fulfilled that hope.

Love is better than any necktie I could ever give him, anyway.

Grace Stopher will be a sophomore this fall at Sheldon High. She can be reached at [e-mail].