Today is my father's birthday.
When I was about 6 years old, I used my EZ-Bake Oven to bake his birthday cake: yellow cake with peanut-butter icing. (WHY has there not been more peanut-butter icing in my life?)
It did not occur to me until after I proudly placed the tiny plate in front of him that Dad would eat the whole thing. That was a minor tragedy. Still! He pronounced it Good.
When we went on the EYC (Episcopal Youth Community) camping trip and a stick bug got on my sleeping bag, Dad went with me to sleep in the car.
On my ninth birthday, Lissa gave me a skateboard (thanks for the scars), Mom gave me a beautiful dress, and Dad said his gift required going out. I insisted on wearing my beautiful new dress (slightly too big, and so very long, which I loved). He said that if I was going to dress up, so would he, so he put on a suit and we went to see Star Wars. Twenty years later, when the special editions came out, I cried a little in the movie theater when the music started to play, because I wished that I was sitting again with Dad.
He has more than one gold gallon pin from the Red Cross for donating blood.
He is spending his retirement building Habitat for Humanity houses.
I am so proud of my dad.
Happy birthday! I love you.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
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I was talking politics at Lowes one day and getting a bit of flak for being a tad liberal ('tad' meaning 'very' in this case). And someone said that I'd get more conservative as I got older. I agreed but she continued trying to get my goat and said "One day you'll wake up and be your father!" My response was "If I'm lucky."
Wait till you see him, he looks younger and healthier since he's retired. He's lost weight and the old "dad sparkle" when he's laughing quietly is more frequent.
He's also coming to help me fix my porch tomorrow.
We've got the best Dad ever...
Roy D. once said the same thing to me. My response was, "So you're saying that as I get older and have more stuff, I'm going to care more about protecting my stuff than about social justice and feeding poor people?"
He allowed that was a good point.
And I have stayed just as liberal.
(I will note, though, that my definition of "conservative" wasn't particularly accurate.)
I have the most wonderful family a man could ever want. What did I do so right to deserve them?
And my idea of a conservative has to with the the core values of life,
1)individual responsibility,
2)freedom of choice,
3)right to life,
4)a strong family matters,
and a few more I'll save.
I love you all.
What you did was simply be you.
I agree - all you did, all you needed to do was be you- and we got to be the lucky ones.
Dad who taught me the importance of hard work, a strong voice and a hearty laugh. Oh- and a good handshake.
Excellent blog, as always, Virginia!
Happy Birthday, Daddy.
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