letter: dear dad

dear dad:

it is your 31st father's day.  that is quite an accomplishment and you should be proud of yourself.  you were so young when mom told you she was pregnant.  i'm so grateful that your agreement was to have her stay home to raise us kids.  that must have put an incredible amount of stress on you.  sole support of a family isn't small potatoes and you took it head on.  i love hearing about how you guys would budget out the month by putting money in envelopes.  it has taught me the value of a dollar and living wintin your means.  that is an invaluable lesson.  raising us was your number one priority and i know you sacrificed.  thank you.

some of my favorite memories are summer nights.  every night we would drag every toy out of the garage and every night after we went inside you would put everything away.  you must have been exhausted after working all day and yet i never heard you complain.  you ran me up and down the cul de sac a million times trying to get me to ride a two wheeler.  i was a slow learner and you were very patient (and you were again when you taught me how to drive).  you and mom would pitch the softball to all the neighborhood kids and our yard was always the place to be.  you'd get so mad when we'd run around with no shoes on and then track dirt and sand from the sandbox in the house.  i remember a few times a summer you would take us to the local pool at night.  that was always so fun.  then when i was in college we would take nightly walks together.  we had some good talks and found that glass table in those people's garbage.  it still looks good in the family room.

i love that halloween is your favorite holiday and you're crazy enough to like black jelly beans.  i remember trick or treating after school but the real fun came after we ate frozen pizza and headed back out with you in the dark.  i always give kids who are out with their dads after dark extra candy on halloween because i know how much fun they're having.  don't worry, i plan on making my kids dump their nerds and pixie sticks into margerine containers so that they don't get any on the floor.  i still freak out if i hear a nerd hit the tile.  where did it go?!

thank you for coming to all my extracirricular activities.  i remember that you were supposed to take a customer to the skybox on the night of my last track meet.  you told your boss you couldn't go because being there for me was more important.  family is always first.  period.

you helped move me four times in four years in college and i remember when you moved me into my law school apartment you told me it was the last time you would move my couch.  i stayed in that apartment all three years.  i know when i've pushed the limit.  thank you for my college education.  my brain is full because of you.

it was such an honor for me to have you walk me down the aisle at my wedding.  people say you marry your father and i'm so lucky to have you as my example of what a man should be.  i saw the way you looked at mom with total love and devotion and knew that i would never settle for anything less.  i saw that same look in king louie's eyes and i'm the happiest girl in the world. 

thank you for being supportive when i went into treatment.  you did everything anyone asked of you and you were just there.  being there for king louie and for me is part of the reason that i've been in recovery for over two years.  whether is was physically or emotionally being there or helping when my insurance ran out you were committed to my recovery.  i swear i'll pay you back someday and i know that you don't really care if i ever do.  being healthy and happy is repayment enough. 

it is so fun working with you.  you're the best boss i've ever had.  while i don't run into work in the morning because i'm so excited to be there, i always get a kick out of stopping by your office and chatting about the last night's events.  kinda weird that you give me reviews and raises, huh?  i loved at the company Christmas party when mom told someone that i was such a daddy's girl.  it made my day.  everyone tells me that i look just like mom but once in awhile i have someone tell me that i look like you.  that makes me happy.

thank you for being a terrific role model.  you taught me to stay calm and basically not to be a pain in the caboose.  work hard and let my actions do the talking.  it is so much more effective.  you've gained the respect of king louie and i know he looks up to you too.  that means the world to me.  thanks for being the person to call when the garage door wouldn't go down, when there was randomly water in the basement and for all the other hopeless situations we get ourselves into.  it is so wonderful to know that i have the option to:

via laura major via twitter via source

happy father's day!  go hug your dad, your husband or any other amazing man in your life and thank him for making you the wonderful person you are today.

~poptartyogini~