Dear Dad,

-
Last night I had a dream about my Grandparent's house.  But it wasn't really their house, it was missing all the beauty and grace of my Grandmother's touch.  And the layout was all wrong.  In dreams, though, things don't have to work right.  It was my Grandparent's house and you were there, you were taking a nap.  

Thank you, Dad, for making me love naps.  

On Saturday we were driving around north of our house looking at houses.  We got our car stuck in the mud because apparently our SUV is lacking in the utility and sport departments.  We had to call Uncle Heezy (Scott) to come and yank us out with a chain.  This was not for lack of trying to wiggle out on our part.  We also saw a radio tower, as in ham radio, and Eric said "Hey, your Dad would like it up here because there's a radio tower."  And I laughed.

Thank you, Dad, for teaching me to notice things besides my own problems and then to laugh.

I appreciate other things you've given me, although in some cases it has taken time to acquire said appreciation.  

I'm grateful for my brown, curly hair.  Maybe it's wild and foofy and often times completely untame-able but it links me to you.  I'm grateful for my brown eyes which are not quite the same color as yours, but very close.  I'm grateful for my son, who has your 'jeans' coursing through him so strongly that he has acquired many of your mannerisms despite spending relatively little time in his life with you.  He zooms airplanes past his eyes to see how they look when they fly.  He twirls his hair when he's thinking.  He thinks he is hilarious.  Just like you.

Do you remember when I was a teenager and I wheedled my way into a trip to Santa Fe with just you?  I guilt-tripped you about taking my brother, Bud, on a trip alone so that you would take me on one too.  I was always jealous of your time.  I remember that trip vividly.  I remember that you bought me breakfast at McDonalds - a sausage McMuffin with egg and a hashbrown.  I remember my disappointment that the Palace of the Governers didn't look anything like a palace.  I remember walking around inside with you, you letting me drag my feet, while I chatted your ear off.  I remember thinking that you probably would have enjoyed it more with Bud because he has such an easy way with you.  But, you never showed boredom or frustration.  You smiled at me and let me browse around and at the end of the day you took me home happy.  

Thank you, Dad, for setting aside your needs to meet mine my whole life through.  Thank you for working in crappy jobs you hated to provide for your family.  Thank you for buying the good (junk) foods at the store when Mom wouldn't.  Thank you for sending me on errands and letting me keep the change.  Thank you for paying for my car insurance.  My gas.  My schooling.  My frivolous needs.  My wedding cake.  My move.  Thank you for making us feel rich in love even if we didn't have a lot of material things growing up.  Thank you for teaching me to work, for showing me a loving marriage, for not killing me when I got a ticket in your car, for making me call my Grandparents when I got caught ditching.  Thank you for giving me the opportunity to learn lessons and for sometimes teaching me those lessons with a firm hand.  

I love you, Dad.

Happy Birthday.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dear Carly,

-
Image
I assume that one day you will come to me wanting to know who you are, where you came from, where your other family is and why they gave you to us.  I offer you little bits of information already, but certainly not crumbs enough to satisfy the appetite.  Perhaps it won't matter to you.  I am assuming a lot, already, about how adoption will impact your life. People often wonder why adoptive parents are hurt when their children seek out biological roots.  I have the answer, and it's very simple.  Adoption - at its core - makes us question the legality, authority, voracity, and validity of parenthood.  For most adoptive parents, first you must come to terms with an issue that strikes at the foundations of mortality: fertility.  From birth, most of us are driven to form families.  First we are nestlings, nurtured and weened and eventually taught to fly.  Then we are nest-builders, filling our lives with the stuff necessary to drive life forwar...
Read more

M is for Mother

-
Motherhood is more than carrying a child in your womb for 9 months. Motherhood is more than daily wiping of noses, cleaning of faces, filling of bellies. Motherhood is more than driving, shopping, cleaning, cooking. Motherhood is part of being a Woman, but not all of it. It is part of growing up, for some of us. It is conducive to gaining appreciation, but not for everyone. I was still a child myself, really, when I became a Mother. Joshua and I did a lot of growing up together. We both learned a lot about sacrifice. I learned how to say good-bye to him in the morning, he learned that separation from Mother wasn't such a bad thing after all. Especially since he got to go to Grandma's house (which, sorry Disney, was the happiest place on earth). I learned I could love someone until my heart might burst and be completely enraged at the same time. He learned that the wrinkling of my forehead was not a good sign for anyone. We learned a lot about time, more specifically abo...
Read more

thirty two

-
Image
Today is the big day, the day when I roll over from 31 ( just barely old) to 32 (aka old and can't deny it) . The funny thing is, I don't feel 32. I feel just like I did at 22, just maybe a little less scared. There are a few gray hairs tucked in the brown, there are a few wrinkles under the chubbiness of my 'baby face'. I can't say that I'm feeling the aches and pains of a body weighed down by years. I don't. Except perhaps my ankles which are stiff in the mornings from my bad habit of tripping on my own feet . The march of years is fairly kind to us, I think. We feel the same though our bodies keep climbing that mortal hill. Today I'm going to celebrate being alive . I'm going to eat good food, share good company, laugh while I tickle my kids. I'm going to take a long nap (hopefully) and just be glad for one more day, one more week, one more month, one more year. Oh, and I'm going to sport this super cute and sassy hair cut curteousy of ...
Read more