Dads are often portrayed as uncool, parental figures who are stereotypically slow to catch up with the times and come off goofy when they attempt a wardrobe update.
But we gotta love 'em, dad jokes and all.
Despite the flak they get, dads are actually a lot cooler than you think.
It just takes us time to mature and realize they are our heroes, the ones who stood by our side even though they tend to internalize their emotions–a side effect of being brought up in a different time.
Here to throw the spotlight on dads, Redditor AquaPressureessure asked:
"What is the most epic thing your dad ever did?"
Dads can be so smooth and ridiculous at the same time.
Hat Trick
"Had his hat blow off on a windy day in a crowd in Chicago. Stuck his hand in the air, caught another random hat blowing by, wore it instead."
– Smokey_Katt
"Very cool. I'm picturing your Dad as Cary Grant, all suave and charming."
– teddybearer78
The Deer Whisperer
"Driving home from the cottage once. There was a doe on the side if the road, just chilling. Didn't even move as we got closer."
"Dad slowed the car to a halt, rolled down the window, leans out and asks the goddamn deer for directions to the highway. She just slowly backed away and vanished into the trees."
"I'm dying in the passenger seat as we drive away."
– erayachi
Party Supplier
"My old man hated I played warcraft as a kid."
"Fast forward to my third year in university, hes giving me a lift back to my digs and I mentioned the Legion expansion was coming out. That a bunch of us were going to play together because it was basically a homage to The Burning Crusade which is when I played the most. And I guess I sounded more hyped than I thought."
"So I said we're going to nerd out the next 3 days playing solidly. So we stopped in a store so I could grab a case of beer."
"Besides what beer / whiskey I drink, he knows nothing about preferred snacks etc, as we're walking around hes loading a bunch of sh*t in the trolley and just says 'Your mothers away, I'm going fishing every day'."
"He grabs an extra crate of beer and a bottle of whiskey and says 'my treat for your weekend'. Get back to my digs and he unloads all of the shopping and brings it in and just said it was all for the weekend. Spend a god dam fortune."
– Goetre
Not all heroes wear capes.
Saving The Day
"My family was sledding down this big hill, at the end was a cliff into a parking lot so we would all stand there to make sure no one fell off the edge."
"My younger sister went through my moms legs and was about to fly off the cliff when my dad ran faster than humanly possible and dove and caught my sisters sled and stopped it inches from the cliff. We all called him Superman the rest of the trip."
– Wonka824
The Avenger
"I went to an auto shop for the first time by myself for repairs when I was 18 and they ended up charging me $1200. I thought that was just the price that had to be paid so I paid it."
"My dad picked me up from the shop and when he saw how much I paid he parked the car, went inside and asked for a manager. He was calm but angry at the same time and I could tell it intimidated the manager who ended up doing the same service for $600 after they rediscussed the price and the manager refunded the rest back on my card."
"After that I have always negotiated payments for any auto repairs and ill shop around town if they dont offer a fair price."
– PC_Pickle
The Confrontation
"My dad worked from home at a time when working from home basically never happened. He was a salesman of industrial equipment and his territory was 3 states. He was literally the only employee of the company within 500 miles."
"I was having problems in school and the school didn't want to deal with it because when have they ever cared about the student being bullied?"
"My dad eventually went up the chain high enough to speak to someone at the district, but that someone kept dodging him. He'd schedule an appointment and get there and, oops, according to the secretary he had to leave early to take care of something else."
"Once is unlucky, twice is a coincidence, but three times is enemy action."
"So my dad got a bunch of work he could do in his car, waited until the admin pulled into their parking space in the morning and... blocked him in. My dad checked in with the secretary and said he'd wait in his car for the admin to return, and indicated which car was his."
"And so he sat in his car. From around 10am to 8pm. And then got his meeting with the admin because, shocker, the admin wasn't out of the office attending to an emergency."
– Astramancer_
Don't Mess With This Tourist
"My dad caught a pickpocket in Madrid."
"He felt a light touch in his back pocket, spun, grabbed the guy by his biceps and screamed 'Dónde está?'"
"A crowd opened up, circling the craziness while my family looked on."
"After about 20 seconds of my dad screaming, his wallet comes flying out of the crowd and lands at his feet. He let the pickpocket go."
– DO_NOT_GILD_ME
The Venerated Professor
"My dad graduated from university when he was 21. They told him if he got his teaching certificate he could come back and teach."
"He did and a year later became an assistant professor. He stayed working there his entire career, moving on to tenured professor then Acedemic Dean and finally President. He got his Phd along the way as well. At his retirement party 1000 people showed up."
– discostud1515
Takes Charge
"My dad was a cop in a large American city. By the time I was teenager he already had over 25 years on the job and had retired into a second career as an insurance investigator. Not once, but twice, he and I were out running errands and witnessed horrible car accidents."
"This is before the era of cell phones. Both times I watched as he quietly put our car into park and set about stabilizing the wounded, delegating tasks to gawkers, and pretty much taking charge until the first responders got there."
"Pretty much the worst sh*t I've ever seen in my life, he calmly went about the business of saving lives."
– all4whatnot
Channeling His Inner Hulk
"My dad had an appendix removed, and we had to go to the supermarket to get his drugs the same day; he was lying in the back of the car, and there was an altercation in the parking lot, and he still jumped out to tell them all to f'k off and go away".
"He was 5’8” 145lbs, so not intimidating, but he jumped out like the Hulk, and it all went away, I was 10."
– waistingtoomuchtime
These Redditors had a newfound appreciation for their dads.
Ultimate Role Model
"When I was 10 he was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer and was told he had 2 months to live at best. He told the doctors no and battled for 9.5 years before passing in 2014."
"During that time he always worked hard and made time to help people while still giving me and my 4 siblings as normal a life as he could. Especially my youngest siblings who were twins that were a little under 2 years old."
"He got to give them some more time and not just a man in a picture as a memory. There’s not a single person who I’ve come to respect half as much as my father."
"Nothing is more bada** to me than a person going through some awful sh*t, but they still somehow power through and persist on. Trying to take notes as I go through my own, more minor, leukemia diagnosis. Couldn’t have asked for a better role model."
– thatoneguy2252
The Stories Were True
"Realizing my Dad wasn't a liar. Growing up he'd tell stories and I always thought he was exaggerating. Turns out he was telling the truth."
"Extremely trivial example is he used to say he was great at pool. Never believed him until we went to play and he called a shot that I thought was impossible. He did it. Made me reexamine everything he ever said."
– MacabreMori113
Priceless Memory
"I was estranged from my dad for 25 years, after my mother abducted me to Australia. I made a real effort to track him down after my wife got pregnant with our first child to let him know he was going to be a grandfather."
"Fast forward three years and we're finally reunited. Our first son was very clingy to mum and didn't like strangers, and would instantly shirk any kind of attention from anyone except immediate family."
"On our first day out, we're standing in the carpark and my dad tells us he's going to take us to a nice little cafe for lunch, and then he says 'Alright, come on little guy' reaches out and takes my son's hand, and he just goes with him."
"The two of them walk off together hand in hand, and my dad is talking happily with his first-ever grandson. My wife and I let them go off ahead a little bit and followed behind."
"My father died the following year, and this was to be the first and last time I saw him in 25 years and the first and last time my son would meet his grandad."
"My son knew his own. And my dad did it with such confidence and safety that he didn't get a chance to feel anxious about leaving mum's side."
"Thankfully I have a photo of that moment. It's a precious memory."
– diamondjo
Ensuring Bright Futures
"Let all of us finished college even he works only on a minimum wage, he always find ways to pay for our school so we can have a good future. That was more than epic to me."
– shihoshodogirl
The Volunteers Spoke Volumes
"My Dad set the record at our local transplant center for people volunteering to be tested to see if they were a match to donate him a kidney."
"If that doesn't indicate a life well lived, I don't know what does. My Mom's sister ended up being a great match and the transplanted kidney has been going strong for 20 years!"
– ILikeYourHotdog
To all the dads out there who have always shown up and been a constant support warrior, we are grateful.
The next time you see your dad, give him a hug.
@realDonaldTrump/Truth Social