for my sweet daddo =)

Today is my daddo’s birthday. So this morning (or rather, this afternoon) as I woke up, I just sort of laid in bed and thought about how awesome he is.

My dad is the youngest of six boys, so he’s kinda quiet. He’s probably the most gentle and even tempered man I’ve ever met before. Not to say that he’s completely quiet! He’s known for his sweet laugh that makes everyone else want to laugh along with him. In fact, just the other day we were all watching The Griswolds and dad started laughing so hard that the rest of us were laughing more about him than about the movie itself.

Another thing that always makes me laugh about dad is how he loves doing things that drive mom insane. Like for instance, mom will be in the kitchen and dad and I are sitting on the couch and dad starts giving mom a hard time about something. Mom of course doesn’t know that he’s joking because she doesn’t see him laughing silently at his own clever comment as he looks at me with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. It’s so cute.

Dad is the most hardworking person ever…oh my gosh, it amazes me how in the winter especially he’ll work plowing roads for the county all day and then he’ll come home and sleep for maybe three hours before getting called in again and working all night. The next morning he’s at it again. One time he worked for 32 hours straight. This was the first Christmas I can actually remember having my dad home! It was so awesome. Usually he has to work Christmas Eve and Christmas Day…and every other holiday it seems. I was super thankful to have him home this year. It definitely meant the world to me and was the best Christmas gift EVER.

It seems like wherever Dad goes, he reflects the love of Jesus. He’s the most selfless person I’ve ever met. My dad loves to do things for us. Like if mom and I are kinda grumpy or feeling down, he’ll randomly disappear and come back with chocolate or a cake or something. Even little things like refilling mom’s coffee mug in the morning. Or killing microscopic spiders that I can’t bring myself to come near. Or if the dog threw up and the rest of us are too weak stomached to clean it up, he gets down on his knees and takes care of it.

So as I stuck dad’s birthday cake in the oven today, and sat down to write this…I found myself overwhelmed by how amazing my dad is. No matter how unappreciative I am sometimes, my dad is always there for me with open arms and a laugh. Some of my favorite memories with him are when he took me to meet my friends somewhere…we’d get there a few minutes too early and just sit in the car listening to Omelet & Finster and talking about when he was my age, and about cars and snowmobiles and stuff.

I remember when I told mom (when I was like, 3) that I was going to marry daddy someday because he was my best friend. Every day when he’d come home from work, we’d curl up on the couch and watch TV together. It was just what we did. It was our thing….that is, until the couch got too small for both of us (Haha).  Now every evening I’m locked up in my room working on my music. Dad never complains about it though. He never tells me that I should be out in the living room with the family. Instead he supports me. I always thought that my family would think I’m completely insane to even think that I could be a legitimate musician someday (Although, my little brother can’t understand how I can play guitar for five or so hours at a time and not die of boredom), but I must conclude that they’re the most supportive of what I want to do. Mom is my “go-to” she’s the one I know I can run my songs by and get a brutally honest opinion. Dad is the one who comes home (or comes to wherever I am at the moment) with a KB-300 or something that he just randomly found at a garage sale and thought I could use for the band. He’s famous for what he can find at garage sales. One time he brought me home a bass guitar. I knew nothing about bass, but he told me that he knew I could figure it out. Four days later I was playing bass for our church’s worship team. Sometimes the only thing that keeps me going with music, when I get frustrated, is my parents’ endless support and my daddy’s proud smile. He looks up songs sometimes with really complicated riffs and looks at me and says, “I bet you could do this, eh?” and I laugh.

So daddo, if you happen to be reading this…thank you so much for always being here for me and supporting me. Thanks for putting up with my weirdness and thanks for all the hugs. I love you so much, happy birthday<3

P.S. I just heard you over the scanner and it made me miss you more. I hope you get off work soon! And I just took your cake out of the oven. It smells really good, it’s German Chocolate =)