Fathers are guaranteed to affect a child’s life. There is no getting around that. Whether the father is loving or neglectful, competitive or laid back, driven or lazy. My dad has always been one with logic. When I was younger, it infuriated me. If I was scared of going to sleep upstairs he would assure me that nothing was going to get passed everyone downstairs. If I had to pick up apples from the tree in the backyard he explained that the harder I worked the sooner I would get to play. Still I was not convinced. He exemplified through his own character that hard work without protest finished the task. He reached his daily criterion for success, but I would often question his standards.

My dad’s one and only career has been truck driving. There were times when he would be gone for a whole week, and that was a sacrifice for everyone. It is not the highest paying job for a man with a wife and four kids. He is often sleep deprived, and does not get much say in his destinations. But just like he always does, my dad perseveres and does not complain. He loves his family and his job, and to him his life is a complete success.

If my dad sets his mind to something, he can create it. He has definitely been given a gift. He can build beautiful things out of wood, and he has an artistic side that he will not entirely fess up to. He is also intelligent in a way that makes you want to have a good discussion concerning the meaning of life. Yet there he is everyday, driving along the interstate, from loading station to docking station. He puts in his hours and comes back home to us. For years I wondered why he chose the path he did. Where could he find his success?

I asked him once what made him want to be a truck driver. He can hardly ever tell stories, simply because he has a terrible memory. On one of his trips from Nebraska to Indiana with his parents and older sister he remembered having a small semi truck that he drove all over the back seat of that car. Back and forth, back and forth he kept dreaming of someday driving a huge truck and traveling across the country. He had never wanted to do anything else since. For my dad choices are so simple. There is no need for material luxuries, worry, or debt. His victories come from making his granddaughter smile, or giving away a stain glass landscape he created. The more I see him live the more I learn.

Success is relative. Everyone has their own identity. It is their environment and genes that create who they are. These factors produce a variety of ideas and values that are worked into the definition for success. One description could be the American dream of a money making career, a nice house, and the perfect family. For some people it is the desire for fame and high society. Still others are searching for the perfect people that will complete their life. There is no single decision determining what success is.

To me success is defined as the moments you realize you have found contentment within yourself. I succeed when I am a four year olds best friend at an outreach program. I succeed when I truly listen to my friend that’s hurting. I succeed when I can clean out an elderly lady’s garden. Gifts and talents are the foundation for success. When those are taken and put into action for the benefit of others there you find you have built something worthwhile. Eventually the money and accolades fade away and our lives are left unsatisfied. In material things the happiness is only temporal. What my dad had been teaching me all these years began to make sense. I can now see the beauty of a necessity based life where the stress is eliminated. The joy of life then comes in different forms.

There is something extraordinary about success. It meets you at the most unsuspected places. You may expect it to come with the new job promotion, when it actually shows up during the conversation with the cashier. You may be on your knees asking for the latest video game, but find that you are more satisfied when you teach your sister how to shoot a basketball. Whether you dream of it from a young age, work for it until you see results, or it appears on your doorstep, success is finding contentment and joy amidst the moments in life.