I love my silly dad!

This picture is a few months old. My mom had been staying with me for a few weeks last Spring, when my dad and sister decided to hop on down for a weekend visit. While they were here, my brother Kirk and his family stopped in. This is my dad, with Mardi Gras beads draped across his glasses frames, making dinosaur hands and talking to Hazel in a squeaky ("scary") voice. (She didn't think it was too scary. Probably the necklaces he was wearing over his glasses tipped her off.) Notice how every single kid in the picture is enamored of him, hanging on every word of the story he is telling, the game he is playing with them.

This is the story of my life.

This is my dad. Just one of many snapshots of him taking time to play with children, to get down on their level and just be with them. My childhood is full of memories of playing monster (chase), talking to Donald Duck (and sometimes Mickey Mouse) on the phone, wrestling on the living room floor, driving down to the school at warp factor 3. ... And I could go on and on. My childhood was fun, my whole life has been fun, because I had parents who found joy in simple things, then got down on the floor and shared those simple things with us.

I think of my dad when:

I eat really good ice cream
I eat Hershey's chocolate
I smell/see stir-fry
I make homemade hot fudge sauce
I eat carmel popcorn
I see a bowl of guacamole, just begging to be dipped into
I watch a good super hero movie (As for me and my house, we love the X-Men!)
I eat fish - any kind of fish
I see hair dyed blue
I hear the little fishy song
I go to a patriotic program, or sing the national anthem

There are so many things that remind me of my dad. So, very many wonderful things. I'm so grateful for the example he has always shown of how to find joy in adversity. I'm grateful for his life-long love of learning, and how that contributed, not only to my childhood and adolescence, but to my life. I'm grateful for his compassion, for his desire and willingness to help others in their time of need. I'm grateful that he's been completely on board with having my mom here to take care of me, for a large part of the last year.

I am, in large part, who I am because of the home I was raised in - because of the parents whom I was privileged to have. I'm so grateful for the excellent head start they gave me in my life, and for their continuing support and friendship at this stage of my life.

Happy Father's Day, Dad! I love you!