I am an absolute out-and-proud Daddy's girl. My dad and I share the same ridiculous sense of humor. He was only 19 when I came along, so he has often been more of a friend than a true "dad." We have spent decades tormenting my poor mother with poorly sung renditions of Bon Jovi songs, and when things in life go sideways a hug from my Dad is everything I need to feel okay again. One of my favorite things about my dad is how absolutely stereotypically Dad-ish he has gotten now that he's older.
As a kid he was the cool dad that all my friends had crushes on (don't worry about mom, Dad has been hopelessly hers since the day they met and she did pretty decent in that department too. She was young and beautiful and at least 3 men have dumped me because they were too interested in my mom)
Now that he's older, he's started doing things like buying 5 of the same pair of sneakers because he doesn't want to have to come back when he wears them out. His dad jeans game is flawless. He refuses to throw anything away because he needs it all for ... something. Oh, and you want puns? He's got you covered in multiple languages. His favorite joke is a play on the word "vacation" and asking what cows need a break from. The spanish word for cow is "vaca." I've heard this joke at least once a month for ten years and the only person who ever laughs is him - and he laughs until he cries. It's glorious.
One Reddit user asked:
What is the most "dad thing" your father has ever done?
And yeah, dads are a magical creature, aren't they? Here are some of the daddest dad stories we found in the thread.
Free Hat
One time, my dad traveled 3500km to get a free hat.
Many years ago, my dad bought a very dad hat. This dad hat happened to have a lifelong guarantee, in which should the hat fail, you can bring it to any flagship store and get a free new one. After many years of good use, my dad's hat ripped and upon finding out that the only flagship store in Canada is en route to where his grandfather lived (RIP), my dad kept it for several months and arranged our travel plans to visit my great-grandfather so that we would go by the flagship store. Despite delaying our trip, my dad got a free hat.
There Was No Pie
My grandfather:
Small family gathering of aunts, uncles, and cousins. Dinner has just finished and us children are still at the table when granddad pipes up, "Who wants chocolate pie?"
A whole chorus of "Me's!" go up.
Granddad: "Me too, I wish we had some!"
He wasn't kidding. There was no pie.
White Sneakers
He has his white sneakers for mowing the grass, his white sneakers for shoveling, and his "dress" white sneakers for fancy events.
Any attempt to get him to wear an outfit that doesn't involve cargo shorts is met with lots of complaining and arguing and bargaining to get him to put on something that isn't cargo shorts for the love of god we're going to a nice restaurant please wear actual f---ing pants
The Lending Mower
GiphyHe has two lawnmowers, one for Lending, one for Using. If someone asks to borrow the lawnmower, he gives them the Lending lawnmower so nothing befalls our "good" lawnmower. It's like your grandparent's "nice" couch that only guests can use, but in reverse. And with lawnmowers.
Peak dad.
Driving And Laughing
Puts a magnet in an empty soda cup and sticks it to the top of his car. Then he drives around and laughs at everyone who tries to warn him. I think he saw it on Kimmel.
He Forgot
Maybe this is a "dad thing" as my dad has gotten older... He sent me to the grocery store with his own credit card to buy groceries for the family. By the time I got there and checked out everything, the card didn't work. Turns out that my dad quickly forgot that he gave me his credit card, then discovered it was "missing" and promptly had it canceled. Still love him though.
Frozen Dinners
While driving us all home after dropping mom off at the airport, we stopped at the grocery store and he told us to each pick out a week's worth of frozen dinners.
An Earth Shattering Fart
He was on a business call in his office, door closed. Sisters and I are chilling on the couches in living room. Dad comes out of the office, still on the call, and heads over to me. I think he's going to ask me for a cup of water. I was mistaken. Dad turns his back to me and lets out an earth shattering fart right into my face. Walks back into his office like nothing ever happened. I still smell it.
- dal-dal
Buyer's Remorse
Been a dad he loves the sneakers and jeans combo, and every time he finds a good pair of sneakers on sale he will buy three pairs. So when he wears out the first pair, the second comes out of the cupboard, etc.
He's currently about to wear out the third pair in his last purchase and told me he regrets not buying four pairs.
The Great Hot Saucing
GiphyDad got home from work late. Entered the house without turning any lights on, so the only light in the open-space downstairs came from the dimmed lights in the living room. I should mention that my dad's eyesight by this time wasn't the best without glasses.
He went straight for the fridge and found a home cooked plate of enchiladas waiting for him. A true score for a tired man.
He grabbed the plate, a fork, and a bottle of hot sauce and proceeded to shake the bottle vigorously during the 20 foot walk from the fridge to the couch. He put his plate down and turned on the lights, only to find a Jackson Pollack of hot sauce ALL OVER THE F*CKING DOWNSTAIRS. Hot sauce on the ceiling, floor, couch, walls, TV, picture frames, coffee table, his clothes, and more.
"Ohhhhh f*ck me! You mother f*cking piece of sh*t!"
Dad starts cursing up a storm, which wakes up my mom.
She comes downstairs to find what looks like 32 gallons of hot sauce splattered around the house.
"It's EVERYWHERE." Mom said "everywhere" just like Gary Oldman said "EVERYONE" in The Professional.
Apparently my dad, being in a tired state, thought nothing of the fact that the hot sauce didn't have a cap when he went to remove it. He just walked across the living area while shaking a full bottle of hot sauce.
We found hot sauce around the house months later. On the remote control, behind the couch, on the TV, on outlets. It was truly the Great Hot Saucing of the Century.
Hold Your Breath
We're driving past a cemetery and he goes "quick! hold your breath or you'll offend the ghosts that live there" as kids, we all play along. He proceeds to slow down to 5 mph and tells us to keep holding our breath.
Dadbrain Is So Real
He put a couple of bills he received in the mail tucked into the backside of the waist of his jeans. Forgot he put them there. Spent an afternoon rearranging the garage looking for where he put them.
Dad-Grunt
My brother sent me a 10 minute long video where he was following my dad around Lowe's. He didn't say one word to my brother the entire time, and stopped only to pick up a power tool or to slowly run his hand over some drywall before shaking his head and moving on to another stack. As they left (after buying like 20 2 x 4s for god knows what project) my dad just grabs two cokes out of the checkout fridge and handed it to my brother with nothing but a dad-grunt, not even noticing the camera.
The Negotiation
GiphySo, I have a lot of cousins. Like, a lot. Most of them have gotten married already, and naturally, we were invited, as family do. I love weddings. There's free cake. No downside.
My dad is a very dad-y dad. He likes khakis and baseball caps, and weddings. Oh, did I mention he missed his calling as an "interpretive dancer?" My mom is the opposite. She's not much of a partier, more like an "I'll sit at the table and watch you guys have fun because that's my kind of fun" kind of gal.
The wedding happens, the food have been devoured and the dancing starts. OH BOI. My father attempts to coax my mom onto the dance floor. She refuses.
My dad begins unbuttoning his shirt to reveal his Hairy Bigfoot Chest. And shaking his hips. My dad is the whitest dad Shakira imitator. My horrified mother rushes out there, buttons up his shirt, and turns to leave. He repeats this, and FLINGS HIS SHIRT OFF.
He only stopped when my mom agreed to stay on the dance floor with him.
The Burgler
My dad once 'burgled' my sister's house trying to show her why she should lock her front door. That didn't go down too well with my sister.
Miss you Dad x
Azusa Man
In the 80s my dad was arrested and the newspaper article said "Azusa (the city he lived in) man arrested for blah blah..." so he made a shirt that says AZUSA MAN on it.
A Cool Dude
My dad owns a mechanic shop and works by himself. Every time we pass by it when he is not working he says "I know a cool dude that works there."
Dabbing Dad
My dad will make the "dab" hand motion, but yell out, "DAD!" instead of dab.
A Medical Condition
GiphyList "being a teenage girl" as a medical condition on a field trip form I had for school.
So tell us, what's the Daddest thing you've ever witnessed?
Experiencing death is a fascinating and frightening idea.
Who doesn't want to know what is waiting for us on the other side?
But so many of us want to know and then come back and live a little longer.
It would be so great to be sure there is something else.
But the whole dying part is not that great, so we'll have to rely on other people's accounts.
Redditor AlaskaStiletto wanted to hear from everyone who has returned to life, so they asked:
"Redditors who have 'died' and come back to life, what did you see?"
Sensations
Happy Good Vibes GIF by Major League SoccerGiphy"My dad's heart stopped when he had a heart attack and he had to be brought back to life. He kept the paper copy of the heart monitor which shows he flatlined. He said he felt an overwhelming sensation of peace, like nothing he had felt before."
PeachesnPain
Recovery
"I had surgical complications in 2010 that caused a great deal of blood loss. As a result, I had extremely low blood pressure and could barely stay awake. I remember feeling like I was surrounded by loved ones who had passed. They were in a circle around me and I knew they were there to guide me onwards. I told them I was not ready to go because my kids needed me and I came back."
"My nurse later said she was afraid she’d find me dead every time she came into the room."
"It took months, and blood transfusions, but I recovered."
good_golly99
Take Me Back
"Overwhelming peace and happiness. A bright airy and floating feeling. I live a very stressful life. Imagine finding out the person you have had a crush on reveals they have the same feelings for you and then you win the lotto later that day - that was the feeling I had."
"I never feared death afterward and am relieved when I hear of people dying after suffering from an illness."
rayrayrayray
Free
The Light Minnie GIF by (G)I-DLEGiphy"I had a heart surgery with near-death experience, for me at least (well the possibility that those effects are caused by morphine is also there) I just saw black and nothing else but it was warm and I had such inner peace, its weird as I sometimes still think about it and wish this feeling of being so light and free again."
TooReDTooHigh
This is why I hate surgery.
You just never know.
Shocked
Giphy"More of a near-death experience. I was electrocuted. I felt like I was in a deep hole looking straight up in the sky. My life flashed before me. Felt sad for my family, but I had a deep sense of peace."
Admirable_Buyer6528
The SOB
"Nursing in the ICU, we’ve had people try to die on us many times during the years, some successfully. One guy stood out to me. His heart stopped. We called a code, are working on him, and suddenly he comes to. We hadn’t vented him yet, so he was able to talk, and he started screaming, 'Don’t let them take me, don’t let them take me, they are coming,' he was scared and yelling."
"Then he yelled a little more, as we tried to calm him down, he screamed, 'No, No,' and gestured towards the end of the bed, and died again. We didn’t get him back. It was seriously creepy. We called his son to tell him the news, and the son said basically, 'Good, he was an SOB.'”
1-cupcake-at-a-time
Colors
"My sister died and said it was extremely peaceful. She said it was very loud like a train station and lots of talking and she was stuck in this area that was like a curtain with lots of beautiful colors (colors that you don’t see in real life according to her) a man told her 'He was sorry, but she had to go back as it wasn’t her time.'"
Hannah_LL7
"I had a really similar experience except I was in an endless garden with flowers that were colors I had never seen before. It was quiet and peaceful and a woman in a dress looked at me, shook her head, and just said 'Not yet.' As I was coming back, it was extremely loud, like everyone in the world was trying to talk all at once. It was all very disorienting but it changed my perspective on life!"
huntokarrr
The Fog
"I was in a gray fog with a girl who looked a lot like a young version of my grandmother (who was still alive) but dressed like a pioneer in the 1800s she didn't say anything but kept pulling me towards an opening in the wall. I kept refusing to go because I was so tired."
"I finally got tired of her nagging and went and that's when I came to. I had bled out during a c-section and my heart could not beat without blood. They had to deliver the baby and sew up the bleeders. refill me with blood before they could restart my heart so, like, at least 12 minutes gone."
Fluffy-Hotel-5184
Through the Walls
"My spouse was dead for a couple of minutes one miserable night. She maintains that she saw nothing, but only heard people talking about her like through a wall. The only thing she remembers for absolute certain was begging an ER nurse that she didn't want to die."
"She's quite alive and well today."
Hot-Refrigerator6583
Well let's all be happy to be alive.
It seems to be all we have.
Trying to lose weight is a struggle understood by many people regardless of size.
The goal of reaching a healthy weight may seem unattainable, but with diet and exercise, it can pay off through persistence and discipline.
Seeing the pounds gradually drop off can also be a great motivator and incentivize people to stay the course.
Those who've achieved their respective weight goals shared their experiences when Redditor apprenti8455 asked:
"People who lost a lot of weight, what surprises you the most now?"
Redditors didn't see these coming.
Shiver Me Timbers
"I’m always cold now!"
– Telrom_1
"I had a coworker lose over 130 pounds five or six years ago. I’ve never seen him without a jacket on since."
– r7ndom
"140 lbs lost here starting just before COVID, I feel like that little old lady that's always cold, damn this top comment was on point lmao."
– mr_remy
Drawing Concern
"I lost 100 pounds over a year and a half but since I’m old(70’s) it seems few people comment on it because (I think) they think I’m wasting away from some terminal illness."
– dee-fondy
"Congrats on the weight loss! It’s honestly a real accomplishment 🙂"
"Working in oncology, I can never comment on someone’s weight loss unless I specifically know it was on purpose, regardless of their age. I think it kind of ruffles feathers at times, but like I don’t want to congratulate someone for having cancer or something. It’s a weird place to be in."
– LizardofDeath
Unleashing Insults
"I remember when I lost the first big chunk of weight (around 50 lbs) it was like it gave some people license to talk sh*t about the 'old' me. Old coworkers, friends, made a lot of not just negative, but harsh comments about what I used to look like. One person I met after the big loss saw a picture of me prior and said, 'Wow, we wouldn’t even be friends!'”
"It wasn’t extremely common, but I was a little alarmed by some of the attention. My weight has been up and down since then, but every time I gain a little it gets me a little down thinking about those things people said."
– alanamablamaspama
Not Everything Goes After Losing Weight
"The loose skin is a bit unexpected."
– KeltarCentauri
"I haven’t experienced it myself, but surgery to remove skin takes a long time to recover. Longer than bariatric surgery and usually isn’t covered by insurance unless you have both."
– KatMagic1977
"It definitely does take a long time to recover. My Dad dropped a little over 200 pounds a few years back and decided to go through with skin removal surgery to deal with the excess. His procedure was extensive, as in he had skin taken from just about every part of his body excluding his head, and he went through hell for weeks in recovery, and he was bedridden for a lot of it."
– Jaew96
These Redditors shared their pleasantly surprising experiences.
Shopping
"I can buy clothes in any store I want."
– WaySavvyD
"When I lost weight I was dying to go find cute, smaller clothes and I really struggled. As someone who had always been restricted to one or two stores that catered to plus-sized clothing, a full mall of shops with items in my size was daunting. Too many options and not enough knowledge of brands that were good vs cheap. I usually went home pretty frustrated."
– ganache98012
No More Symptoms
"Lost about 80 pounds in the past year and a half, biggest thing that I’ve noticed that I haven’t seen mentioned on here yet is my acid reflux and heartburn are basically gone. I used to be popping tums every couple hours and now they just sit in the medicine cabinet collecting dust."
– colleennicole93
Expanding Capabilities
"I'm all for not judging people by their appearance and I recognise that there are unhealthy, unachievable beauty standards, but one thing that is undeniable is that I can just do stuff now. Just stamina and flexibility alone are worth it, appearance is tertiary at best."
– Ramblonius
People Change Their Tune
"How much nicer people are to you."
"My feet weren't 'wide' they were 'fat.'"
– LiZZygsu
"Have to agree. Lost 220 lbs, people make eye contact and hold open doors and stuff"
"And on the foot thing, I also lost a full shoe size numerically and also wear regular width now 😅"
– awholedamngarden
It's gonna take some getting used to.
Bones Everywhere
"Having bones. Collarbones, wrist bones, knee bones, hip bones, ribs. I have so many bones sticking out everywhere and it’s weird as hell."
– Princess-Pancake-97
"I noticed the shadow of my ribs the other day and it threw me, there’s a whole skeleton in here."
– bekastrange
Knee Pillow
"Right?! And they’re so … pointy! Now I get why people sleep with pillows between their legs - the knee bones laying on top of each other (side sleeper here) is weird and jarring."
– snic2030
"I lost only 40 pounds within the last year or so. I’m struggling to relate to most of these comments as I feel like I just 'slimmed down' rather than dropped a ton. But wow, the pillow between the knees at night. YES! I can relate to this. I think a lot of my weight was in my thighs. I never needed to do this up until recently."
– Strongbad23
More Mobility
"I’ve lost 100 lbs since 2020. It’s a collection of little things that surprise me. For at least 10 years I couldn’t put on socks, or tie my shoes. I couldn’t bend over and pick something up. I couldn’t climb a ladder to fix something. Simple things like that I can do now that fascinate me."
"Edit: Some additional little things are sitting in a chair with arms, sitting in a booth in a restaurant, being able to shop in a normal store AND not needing to buy the biggest size there, being able to easily wipe my butt, and looking down and being able to see my penis."
– dma1965
People making significant changes, whether for mental or physical health, can surely find a newfound perspective on life.
But they can also discover different issues they never saw coming.
That being said, overcoming any challenge in life is laudable, especially if it leads to gaining confidence and ditching insecurities.