June 19, 2011
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Mi Padre.
In light of it being father’s day, I thought I’d take a moment to write about 2 fathers. The first being my own and the second being my grandpa.
I’ve always hands down been a daddy’s girl. I’m not sure why or how this came about. I’d imagine it’s just the way it is with daughters and their dads, starting from a young age. It’s a special thing. My dad is a special guy. He isn’t the typical dad that grills, goes golfing, or fishing constantly or even at all. He isn’t stylish in the slightest and I love that. He wears black long socks with his velcro sandals, his t-shirt tucked into his shorts. He wears his pinstripped blue pajama pants with Tigger on the back pocket with a polo shirt tucked in for his lounge around the house clothes. haha, he’s special. I’m sure at one point this was embarrassing to me but now I can appreciate that this is what makes up my father. He is a great example of someone who doesn’t care what others think of him, even though everyone thinks highly of him. He’s the kind of man that is there for his family and every other family, helping in whatever way he can. He’s a humble, caring, and compassionate person who leads his family in a God-honoring way. He’s the kind of man that instead of a present, he’d rather have a letter written from us. He has letters and cards locked up in a drawer at work that he saves and treasures close to his heart.
He has always been a tease. No doubt where I get it from and I’m more than ok with that. When we were younger taking showers, he’d come in with a cup of cold water and pour it over the top for the mere purpose of getting us to scream and we did, which he loves, countless video clips of us on the toilet and him opening the door with us yelling “dad” and him laughing, the way he spells things incorrectly on purpose. I often wondered how I became good at spelling. :) Jokes I used to think were lame, I now use and most people say you sound like your dad. It’s true, he has worn off on me but it’s a great compliment to mirror him in any way. I can’t go past a cemetary without thinking or saying “People are dying to get in there.” He’s always asking children if they are married or happy? Introducing mom has his first wife which probably annoyed her at first but she got used to it. She had to. Kids in Sunday school would get “mad” at dad and say they were going to tell his mom (which was mom) as he also told them she was his mom.
My favorite memories with my dad are going on shoe dates when I was younger. It was our tradition whenever I needed a pair of shoes, dad would take me. I was getting white light up shoes until I was 13 years old. I’m pretty sure dad was living vicariously through me as he loved those light up shoes. I, being the tom boy I was, was drawn to darker shoes which dad apparently thought were guy shoes. Looking back, I can laugh about it but at the time, I wasn’t thrilled getting white light up shoes every single time. He thought they were the coolest.
The second favorite memory of mine is since I can remember dad and I have had Saturday morning breakfast dates. We’ve honestly gone to Jody’s almost every Saturday since I was potty trained. Obviously on and off through college. Lydia goes with him and I go here and there now. I will never forget one morning when he pulled all my covers off, flipped the lights on and was “forcing” me to get out of bed. I finally did and we arrived to Jody’s before it was opened. We literally stood in the parking lot waiting. I can’t remember how old I was when that happened but I refused to get out of bed until a certain time after that.
Lastly, we would always go to WCSG’s Father Daughter banquet. The majority of the time, I found it to be quite lame but it was a date with my daddy and I appreciated the one on one time. I will never forget one year they switched up the location and we got lost on the way. We stopped at the radio station at Cornerstone to ask for directions and my dad secretly asked for our song to be played on the radio. They said our names and everything. At the time and secretly now, oh boy that made me feel special that my daddy thought to do something special for me. Dad was recently at a wedding and texted me a picture of the father/daughter dance and said they are playing our song. It’s little sweet things like that which mean so much to me and he does them often when I need them most without even knowing. He’s a sweet man at heart. I know Butterfly Kisses is every dad and daughter song but I don’t care – it’s special to me.
I don’t really want dancing at my wedding, except for that dance. Nothing else tears me up in weddings except for that moment. I always think that’s why I want dancing — for that moment, for that memory, for that framed photo with my dad.
His two biggest speeches to me growing up were don’t learn to make wagon wheels and don’t settle for less than you deserve. Don’t learn to make wagon wheels was more so in the college years – meaning, don’t learn to do something that everyone else can do. Towards the beginning of college he wasn’t thrilled about my communication/film degree. The subject of being a nurse continued to come up, which was something I didn’t want to do. He continued to show me over and over again that there is a need for them, which was fine but it wasn’t something I wanted to with the rest of my life. It wasn’t until Thomas and Rebecca’s wedding when I saved the day with videography that I really felt he jumped on board. I was glad to be to prove myself through that experience – not to mention Grandma and Grandpa bragged me up quite a bit. I’m not one for attention or for others to brag about me but when they do, it’s cute and I “allow” it. And don’t settle for less than you deserve. Pretty self-explanatory. In the earlier, I could be dating years it was more so don’t just date anyone kind of a deal, as I’ve aged it has continued to be that but to not settle simply because I’m getting older. I like that he’s concerned about me, even though I know better than to just leap at any guy that comes my way. If I did leap, I’d probably be married right now and definitely could be but have heard his words.
I’m blessed to have a loving and caring father – not only for us but for everyone. He’s the kind of man that would drop anything for anyone in a heartbeat. He’s a great example of a man after Gods own heart – a humble servant. Who wouldn’t be proud to call him dad? I’m blessed even more so that he chose to be my father.
That was much longer than I expected it to be…we’ll have a second edition later this week on grandpa.
