Week #24: Dear Dad.

My 2016

Week #24

Dear Dad.

Dear Dad,

I know I've posted a photo collage and called you already today. I also mailed you a card that hasn't arrived yet (oops). But I've been sitting here, reminiscing on my 25 years with you being employed as "dad," and it's made me so incredibly thankful for all of the memories I have of you. Some are good, some are dramatic, but all have been important. So thank you, Dad.

Thank you for carrying me piggy-back style up the stairs to bed every single night. 

Thank you for reading The Chronicles of Narnia out loud to me. I am still convinced that an audio recording of your rendition would make millions.

Thank you for our weekly Zambro's date in Sioux Falls. Thursdays were my favorite day of the week.

Thank you for flying me around the room like I was the starship Enterprise during the Star Trek: TNG theme song. That show will never stop being a part of my life.

Thank you for introducing me to old movies, especially the black and white ones. It has forever changed the way I view quality cinematic work.

Thank you for buying me a cat when I was four years old, even though I'm pretty sure you wanted a dog. I guess that worked out...Katy is basically your cat. She loves you more, anyway. (No, I'm not bitter.)

Thank you for playing duets or trios with me at the Christmas share time every year. Correction: Thank you for struggling to play with me. 

Thank you for buying me a toy whenever I got a shot at the doctor's office. Barbies never failed to make the pain vanish.

Thank you for the album Revolver and how much you played it in the car. You influenced my musical taste in hundreds of ways...this is what I'm the most thankful for.

Thank you for teaching my high school literature classes and forcing me to fall in love with the classics. You're the Atticus Finch to my Scout.

Thank you for always putting up with my Broadway soundtracks on car trips. I know you secretly enjoyed them, even though you acted so annoyed. 

Thank you for asking me to switch from soprano to alto in choir. I'm pretty sure learning to read harmony and how to blend changed the course of my college choral experience.

Thank you for always driving my friends and I to countless movies and dinners at Pueblo Viejo. 

Thank you for thoroughly embarrassing me in front of Justin Thomas Oliver and telling him about our ridiculously creepy fan club. (That was creepy, wasn't it?)

Thank you for Drama Camp. It was the highlight of my summer for so many years. To think that I may be able to direct it myself this year is such a special gift.

Thank you for being the worst dad ever (which really means best dad ever) when I was 15 and thought I had found my future husband. Thanks for not letting me date him. Turns out you have a knack for sniffing out the less than worthy ones.

Thank you for holding me when that guy broke my heart, but also, thank you for not telling me that my heart wasn't really broken. You let me think it was worse than it was, and I appreciate that. 

Thank you for fiercely defending me when my heart really WAS broken a few years later. I didn't appreciate it at the time, but looking back I can see how much you protected me during that relationship. 

Thank you for letting me go to school far away and for letting me grow up the way I needed to. I know how hard that was for you.

Thank you for trying so hard to come see me in every single thing I did in college. Even though my friends made fun of me, I can't imagine you not being there for all of my shining moments at Bryan.

Thank you for allowing me to make some mistakes later on in the dating world so that I could learn from them. Sometimes pain is the only way we grow. Thank you for letting me grow. 

Thank you for supporting me when I walked away from my dream...and then gently coaxing me back on my feet. I wouldn't be in grad school if it hadn't been for you. 

Thank you for saying "no" when I asked to leave Louisiana Tech. Thank you for telling me that I could make it. Thank you for not giving in to my tears and pleas. You knew what you were doing. You always do.

Thank you for giving me your sense of humor. I appreciate showing you Jimmy Fallon videos and the fact that you laugh at them. 

Thank you for still letting me sit in your lap (even though you groan everytime I do it).

Thank you for loving me so overwhelmingly.

Thank you for being my Daddy.

With All My Love,

Your Daughter