"My Father's Eyes" - Eric Clapton

To MY Dad,

I freaking love you.

I love that it's YOUR birthday today . . . because it makes me think on all the awesome events, times & memories we've shared together.

Most of all, I am grateful.

I'm grateful . . . . .

• That you expected a lot of me.
• That we'd meet - just you and I - in that horrible room with the shag carpet to go over how I was doing [school, life, sports, etc]
• For the example you are to Peanut.
• For the example you are to us solely by your actions.
• That you taught me about money at an early age.  "Emily, you either make interest or pay it."
• That I still want to talk to you before a big purchase.
• That you taught me so many sports.
• That you expected just as much from me during sports as my brother.
• That we took walks together at night.
• That you call me randomly just to see how I am.

• That you call me "sweetie".
• That you hug me every time I see you.
• That you got to see me be born.  
• That you taught me how a man should treat a woman by the way to treated / treat Mom.
• That you are slow to anger. [but seriously, what went wrong here with me?! ;) ]
• That you danced for my friends when I begged you to.
• That you didn't hate me when I decided I was "done" with volleyball at just the wrong time.
• That you made me work hard on Saturday's.  chores. chores. chores.
• For the love you show me and my family.
• For the prayers, I'm sure, you sent up daily on my behalf.
• For being at all my volleyball games.  Yelling your heart out.
• For being at my races.  In "run emz" attire.
• That you don't get mad when I poke fun at your sweet sunglasses. ;)

• For being there 23.25 hours of my 24 hour run.

• For always telling me, "Em, don't be so critical" when my attitude was crap.
• For being athletic.
• For always putting your family first.  ALWAYS.

• For teaching me how to NOT throw like a girl.
• For teaching me how to drive.
• For buying that Nissan 300Z. 
• For the way you eat a cob of corn.  just amazing.
• For always saying "good earth".
• For always loving my cooking.

But mostly . . .

For being twinkle toes, Gordy, Papa & MY Dad.
I. freaking. love. you.

"I Was Just Thinking" - Teitur

of. my. Dad.

Yesterday.
was.
his.
day.

His. birthday.  [no, I did NOT forget yesterday].  They [finally] return home from their travels today.  So.  Today.  I. write. his. Birthday. post.  [I'm 99% 5% sure, he'll read it]

To My dad.

Thank you  . . . . .

 . . . .for teaching me to sweat.  To work hard.

. . . .for expecting a lot from me.  [In school, at church, on the court, in life]

. . . .for teaching me about money [at an early age].  Teaching me that nothing should be purchased on a credit card that cannot be paid off completely by the time payment is due.  To "make interest don't pay it".

. . . .for taking walk/runs with me at night.  It was awesome counting to 100 while running so that I could stop and walk at 101.

. . . .for encouraging me play with my brother.  learn with him.  being "one of the boys" when it came to sports. has. helped. me. be. stronger.

. . . .for realizing & getting that I am emotional.  I pretend I am made like a M & M, but you know me better than that.

. . . .for teaching me by your example as much as by your words.

. . . .for the athletic genes.  Sorry mom don't mean to down play your awesome rollerskating youth but . . . . come on, he is "twinkle toes".

. . . .for telling me to finish strong.  no. matter. what.  Anything worth doing is worth sprinting the last 30 seconds. [or something like that. ;) ]

. . . .for giving of your love and time supporting your grandchildren.

. . . .for loving me unconditionally.  always.  I know I have let you down [plenty] in the past. 

. . . .for teaching me how to forgive by seeing you forgive others.

. . . .for having strong opinions.

. . . .for all your forwarded emails.  [I have a feeling I'll have about 20 coming my way by tomorrow afternoon.]  your emails. have. been. missed.

. . . .for being my Dad.

Love,

The "baby".

stars

stars.

I've always loved them. always. always able to see them [these days]? No. But back in the 80's? yes. from a trampoline in Glendale, AZ? yes.


I spent a lot of time outside on that trampoline. [broke a lot of bones on that #@&%~`!# thing too]. great conversations happened on that trampoline. everything from spying on "happy" [eldest sister] with one of her 86 boyfriends to breaking up with one of my boyfriends [I wasn't supposed to even have] to having my dad swear [not literally] up and down that "your arm is NOT broken!". It was.


my favorite though . . .


when I was out there with my Mom at a very early age [this is from my baby book NOT my memory] and she said, "Emily, don't you wish you could reach up and touch the stars?". I said, "I can, I can just stand on the roof.". She then explained how that was good but not quite high enough. To which I replied, "I'll just stand on Daddy's shoulder's then."

roof = not high enough


but
Dad's shoulders = I've got the stars in my hand.


My Dad.

So many things to me . . .


my example
my go-to for advice [that I need to seek more of]
my comic relief
my motivator
my favorite email spamer forwarder
my biggest cheerleader
my loudest fan
my favorite TV yeller
my favorite Laker hater
my cooking [desserts] tester
my daughter's hero
my hero
my banker
my dictionary
my stock broker [sorry Pita, he takes less risk with my portfolio] ;)
my "Obama" news reporter
my husband's best example of what a father was supposed to be like
my best blog stalker [comment? what?]
my councilor
my friend


I love you Dad.


Happy Father's Day.