Happy Father's Day

To my dad...who is the "Master of All Things Breakfast". That is one of his many gifts. He is the epitome of a morning person...which honestly goes against everything I stand for...but he performs his role well. In fact, he is not only a morning person, but an afternoon person...and an evening person except for the fact that pretty much after 9 pm he can fall asleep at will. When I say he is a "anytime of the day" person, I mean he is happy, jovial, carefree...all the time. Oh, that's not to say he doesn't get upset sometimes...I've seen him upset...but it's very rare...and it's usually because someone didn't load the dishwasher correctly or he gets a phone call from some irritating person who pushes his buttons. But within seconds...he is happy again...seriously...irritatingly happy. I only say 'irritatingly' because on more than one occasion he has been known to be "overly jovial" with us non-morning people IN THE MORNING. That is not the least bit funny.

But this is one of the things that most people think of when they think of my dad...that he's happy all the time...and he loves to laugh and have fun. He's the only person I know that can get away with laughing at a funeral...and I know sometimes it's because he's trying to fight back tears...but the laughter gets him through. There has been more than one kid who wanted to be adopted into our family because they thought all we did was have fun 24-7...and as I think back into my limited memory of my childhood...we did have ALOT of fun...and most of it was attributed to my dad and his opinion that we shouldn't take things too seriously.

But he could take things seriously...and he did when it counted. He took raising me and my sisters seriously...to love Jesus and serve Him no matter what...and when you make a mistake, get up and go again. He took his ministry seriously...and served people (honestly the most thankless job there is) for, well, basically his whole life. He took work seriously...oh the tales we could tell of delivering donuts, fruitcakes, and bread. He took marriage seriously and has loved my mom for over 49 years now. So dad...I love you. I'm glad that I've had you in my life for 44 years, and I'm sorry that you had to live without your dad for so many years. Thank you for making our life fun and giving me and my sisters memories of that...and I'm sorry that you didn't get to make loads and loads of memories with your brother. Thank you for the way you love my boys...all three of them...and for being the best Pawpaw ever. You make life fun...but seriously...I won't ever forgive you for ringing the doorbell until I got out of bed...that was NOT FUNNY.

Happy Father's Day...I love you.