Happy Birthday Dad

Dear Dad,

I am convinced that there are few, if any, other families with girls who adore their father as much as your girls adore you. I think that there are men who felt sorry for you that you only had women in the house, but you reveled in it.

My fondest memories of you and me usually involve some kind of sporting activity. I love that you coined the term "No Mercy when my Chezzie's serving", which I think was half sarcasm and half a term of encouragment. I always took it as a term of encouragment. I will never forget the note that you wrote and left in my bathroom the morning of the district tennis tournment in high school. You wrote "Win or Lose, you're the best...if you are behind, Fight Back"...and that is how I played. You may recall I lost in the single's final that year, but the following two years, I won the title. And the year that we won the regional finals to advance to the state championship, you couldn't be there because you had to catch a flight to South America. But that didn't stop you from calling Mom a half a dozen times on the way to the airport to check on what was going on...and when I finally got to talk to you after we had won, I loved that you wanted to hear the play by play of everything that happened.

I loved our Daddy daughter trip to Majorca. I loved that you wanted to do what we wanted to do, and when we all witnessed the lady slide on the liquid in the grocery store, I LOVED that you thought it was just as funny as we did...and still do. "Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

I also love working with you. I loved putting up hurricane shutters on the Parkland house together while mom talked to us. I loved that you trusted me enough to help you. I even love (now) our trips to the Den. It wasn't a pretty picture at times, but I always came away feeling understood and loved.

I love that you knew how much it meant to me to go back to visit my friends in England. I love that you did the work to contact them to allow me to stay there with them, and I love that I got to travel there with you.

I love that you told me once that you thought I could be President of the United States. I thought it ridiculous, and I still do, but I thought it was AWESOME that you thought I could be.

I love that you always wanted what was best for me, even when I didn't know what the best was. I love that over breakfast at Frontier Pies you asked me why I hadn't asked Tanner out yet after I introduced him to you and I told you I liked him. And when I said "I don't know", you said "you have to do it, you might lose your chance if you don't do it now." I took your advice...and I would say it was pretty good advice, wouldn't you?

I believe there is something unique and special about the relationship between a father and daughter, and I feel like you lived it up to the fullest. No other dad could have done it better for me than you. I love you dad! Happy Birthday!