He works hard for the money

My daddy's also a master on the grill!

Even though I live in my hometown again, I didn't get to spend Father's Day with my dad yesterday. He had to pull a 12-hour shift at work instead of staying home to relax with his family. My mom and I, obviously, were upset that for the second year in a row my dad had to work on Father's Day. My dad's reply: "Real fathers work on Father's Day."

If you know my dad, you know that's classic William C. Harris. My father is one of the hardest working people I know and I feel blessed that he instilled the same work ethic in me. That work ethic helped me hold down two jobs so I could buy a car and earn extra money for college. That work ethic helped me survive grad school, my first year of teaching and working on a newspaper as one of only two writers.

That work ethic also made me an independent woman, which is why I often say my father made me a feminist. He taught me that if I worked hard I could take care of myself and that I could do anything I wanted regardless of my race or gender. My daddy even once told me he wanted me to be the country's first female president. 

I've long abandoned my White House dreams, but I'm confident that anything I want to accomplish can be conquered because my daddy told me so.