To My Dad

Today is a busy day. Joseph is going out of town. The dishes need doing. Laundry is everywhere... but I want to write a post for my dad. I found a post I wrote a few years ago and I think it's still very accurate and true and so I'm reposting that now, with some added things.

I knew I was gonna write a tribute to my Daddy today, but I've sat here trying to think of what to say, and there isn't a way I can put how much I love my Daddy into words. 

If there's one thing I know about my father, it's that he loves his family. So I'll share some memories with you!

There's one song my Dad would play on the piano all the time. It's "With A Little Help From My Friends" by the Beatles. And I loved it when he'd play that.

There was a costume I had as a little girl. I honestly thought it looked ridiculous, it was white and huge and poofy and frilly, and I wasn't much of a poofy frilly little girl. But hey, when you play dress up, you wear the costume the suits the roll you're playing. Every time I wore it, Daddy said I looked like an angel. 

Once a week or so, my dad exercised. I really liked those days, because it meant we got to watch The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. 

Sometimes we were supposed to clean. But we always ended up dancing to 80s songs blasting as loud as they could. I owe all of my dancing skills to my father.

My daddy is the smartest person in the world. I brag about how much he knows on a weekly basis. I never had to go to tutoring, I never had want to know how to do homework, he'd always help me. When I was in my American Institutions class this last Fall semester, I'd call him once a week and we'd talk about politics and stuff, to  help me with my essays. I didn't particularly love the class. But I loved calling dad and talking to him.

My dad has a sense of humor! I think he's a pretty serious guy, but when he says something funny I am laughing for hours!

In recent days, I think my dad has gotten funnier. I wish I was home to experience all of those funny times with him. I'm always guaranteed to laugh with him. But then there's the deep conversations too. Dad challenges me and makes me think about things I hadn't thought about before. I love that.

When I was a Sophomore, my favorite teacher in high school told us he wouldn't be returning the next year. I cried for hours. And hours. And hours. And crying was making me ill. I couldn't sleep. I couldn't eat. I've never been that upset in my life. At around 11pm, my dad called me up and we sat in my living room in the dark and looked out our big glass window. He told me of some times when I was a baby, and I would cry and cry and cry, and mom couldn't console me. Daddy would pick me up, and take me outside, and he'd walk around and hold me and talk to me. "Look at the city lights? Aren't they pretty?" I'd quite down and look at the lights, and slowly start sobbing again. He held me and walked around and held me up to the sky. "Look at the stars? Aren't they beautiful? Isn't this a beautiful world we live in?" And I'd stop crying and stare at the stars. And daddy would hold me, and I was a baby, and I had little concept of everything, but he taught  me even as a baby that we always have something to be grateful for, even if it's just the stars. 

When I'd get lonely in SLC and I'd miss my family, and feel inconsolable, I'd walk outside and look at the stars.

We'd watch Arrested Development, Malcolm in the Middle, Hogans Heroes, random shows like that as a kid. I didn't really understand the humor in the shows, but I loved watching them because Dad would laugh for hours about them. I'd watch anything if it made my Dad laugh! 

At my Sweet 16, dad some what insisted we play You Spin Me Right Round by Dead or Alive. And everyone at the party linked arms and we ran around in a circle as fast as we could.  My party was a success because of that.

My daddy loves my momma. I know that. I know that more than I know a lot of things. Sometimes we're talking about something completely different, like college, and he'll relate it somehow to how he loves my momma. 

February 2010, we got a letter in the mail. I'd received a full paid tuition scholarship to the University of Utah. My dad called me into the room, and we discussed my future schooling career. And for the first time I remember, I saw my daddy cry as he told me to do what was best for myself, and if moving away and going to school was what was best, he would support me one hundred percent.

Daddy works hard for his family. If it weren't for him I wouldn't be where I was now. He taught me every day by example and by word, and because of that, I am who I am today. He worked so hard for my family. We never had want for anything. He always wanted to be with us, he was our best friend, and he was ours. And it's still that way!

I respect my father. I don't know how to say that he's my best friend, because I feel like he's so much more than that. I am more than grateful for everything he has done for me. He's taught me about school. He's taught me about life. He's taught me about God. He's taught me about family, love, and in general being good.

My Daddy's got a big part of my heart that will never belong to anyone else.

And one more addition. My dad stepped outside of his comfort zone and introduced me to someone who changed my life. I can say a lot of good things about a lot of good people, but my dad is the only one I can say introduced me to my husband. It is because of my dad that I am where I am today, literally. And I will be forever in his debt because of that. 

I love you Daddy. Happy Father's Day.