Thanks Dad!

Thanks Dad

Thank you for giving me a lap to sit on and cuddle with my daddy. I can remember being about 2, sitting with you in a blue chair, and reaching up and touching the stubble on your cheek.

Thank you for letting me walk to the mailbox with you when we lived in the pink house. I remember stomping in puddles along the way, and you asked me if I could make a bigger splash.

Thank you for TRYING to teach me to ride my bike on that awful gravel driveway. I can still see YOU riding my bike down the hill!

Thank you for letting me play with your hair! What was that stuff anyway? Your hair would stay in whatever position I put it in!

Thank you for buying me my first baseball glove, and coming to my teeball games.

Thank you for taking us on those family vacations in the motor home! I know we weren't the easiest bunch to travel with.

Thank you for paying for my new front teeth every time I knocked them out.

Thank you for not killing me when I ran the brand new riding lawn mower into a tree...the same day you brought it home. I'm sorry it never ran right after that!

Thank you for teaching me to tie my fishing line in that special way so my lure wouldn't fall off!

Thank you for letting me fish with you, and nap in the bow of the boat when I got bored.

Thank you for accepting the fact I prefer to bass fish instead.

Thank you for suffering through my tagging along every weekend when you met "the boys" for breakfast. I'm sure they gave you a hard time about it, and  placed bets on weather or not you'd make it out the door without me!

Thank you for teaching me how to walk through the woods very quietly, it helped a lot when I snuck into your truck so I could go to breakfast with you.

Thank you for letting me caddy for you when I tagged along on your golf outings. I'm sorry I never learned to love the sport. What is a birdie, anyway?

Thank you for taking me duck hunting, and letting me sit in the blind with you and whoever else was along.

Thank you for teaching me how to paddle the duck boat extra quiet so I wouldn't startle the ducks! It helped a lot when I would go out with Mike Ziegler, because I wasn't allowed to make a SOUND when I paddled the boat for him!

Thank you for putting up with the tennis ball marks on the garage door when I would spend hours playing catch against it. I was going to be a major league pitcher you know, even if I did throw like a girl.

Thank you for putting up the basketball hoop, and teaching me to do lay ups, even if I did have the coordination of an ostrich.

Thank you for building me a pair of stilts! Those were SO COOL!

Thank you for being there for me when my pet bird died. You handled it very well. You found something for me to burry him in and everything. I bet you didn't know (you were busy watching a ball game in the den) but I buried him right under my bedroom window!!! (which was right in front of the basement bathroom window!)

Thank you for trying to convince me my elbow wasn't broken.

Thank you for teaching me how to ride the 500! I can still see Mom, sitting in a lawn chair on the driveway to watch, sure I was going to kill myself on it. But you told me I could do it, and I soooooo wanted to show you that I could, all 80 pounds of me.

Thank you for not saying, "I told you so" when I wiped out in the field on that same 500! And you didn't even say anything when I couldn't walk on my ankle for DAYS afterward!

Thank you for taking me along on those motorcycle trips. You gave me my sense of adventure!

Thank you for not killing me when I took the truck without permission...before I had my license...and I couldn't see well enough to pass an eye exam.

Thank you for not saying much when I came home drunk that one day when mom was out of town, and thank you for doing the morning barn chores for me because it was pretty obvious I wasn't in any shape to do them! And thank you for not waking me up when I was sleeping it off.

Thank you for being there when I got married....every time.

Thank you for not saying "I told you so" when it didn't work out.

Thank you for helping me all those times I asked if I could "borrow a few bucks", and being patient when it took longer than I expected to pay you back!

Thank you for being there when Angela was born.  I can still see you standing at the foot of my hospital bed, with tears running down your cheeks as I was told the news.

Thank you for all the Ivanhoe memories. They are they BEST!

Thank you for accepting Dean. I love him so much. I don't know if you've noticed, but he's a lot like you.

Thank you Dad, for all the memories, and for being the best Dad I could ever ask for!