Happy Birthday Daddy!

Saturday was my dad's birthday and yesterday was my parents' anniversary. We couldn't celebrate my dad's birthday on his actual birthday because the guys were out of town working at the ranch, so per my dad's request, we pretended Saturday was not his birthday and celebrated all together last night. The highlight was all of us singing the happy birthday song, opera style. It was really special. Allison and Emma thought it was fabulous. Emma threw in some very lovely dancing along with her opera singing. The look on my dad's face was priceless. Sort of a combination of , "What have I done to deserve this?" and "Well, it's better than a sock in the nose." We're weird. We can't help it.

Maybe next year we'll rap.

So, I was thinking about some of my memories with my dad and decided to blog a few 0f my favorites.

Singing - He plays the guitar and sings. All my life that has been a part of who I am. When I was little he would play his guitar and sing Sunshine on My Shoulders to me. I loved it. I sang along. We also sang "If You've Got the Money, Honey, I've got the Time." and "Whiskey River Take my Mind." As I got older, the music repertoire expanded, even changed, and included primarily praise and worship songs, a little bit of Beatles, and we really never said good bye to Merle Haggard, Hank Williams and others. It's all in fun.

When I was a little girl, we were at our family reunion in Oklahoma. We would play Bingo, which I LOVED. I had heard my dad say he forgot his razor at home and would you believe one of the Bingo prizes was a package of disposable blue razors! I made up my mind I was going to win those razors for my daddy. And sure enough, I got a BINGO and AMAZINGLY no one else had chosen the blue razors so I nabbed those suckers and proudly presented them to my daddy. I am pretty sure he cut his face to pieces shaving with one of those razors that weekend. I'm not sure if he remembers that or not. It's a very vivid memory in my mind.

When I was about 14 and in the throes of teenagerhood, we had been at this same family reunion and were returning home (a seven-hour drive) in my dad's truck, which had a pretend back seat - it was an extended cab pick-up. Anyway, my mom would make sort of like a pallet back there for my brother and me to share. Cas is 6 years younger than me and I'm sure on this particular drive there were probably a few minor disagreements between the two of us. I looked horrible on this drive home. My hair was a mess and I was wearing sloppy clothes and no make up (a definite no-no once you have finally gotten your parents permission to wear make up). So, we were almost home and Cas and I wanted McDonald's for dinner so my dad ordered at the drive through and pulled around to pay and get our food. Well, I thought the McD's boy was nice to look at and I made the mistake of making mention of this to my family. When McD's boy came back to his little window to give us our food, I was leaning over my parents seat and my dad reads McD's boy's nametag, calls him by name and says, "Have you met my lovely daughter, JeanAnn? She's 14." Oh dear Jesus. I'm pretty sure I prayed the scriptures that day...the one that says, "Even so, Lord Jesus, come quickly." True story. I was laughing at myself before we left the parking lot. In my family, if you can't beat 'em, you join 'em.

Not too long after that, I was in church on a Sunday morning sitting with the youth. (Mistake) Both of my parents were in the choir and we went to a small church. I was talking and not paying attention to both of my parents whose eyes I'm pretty sure were seering holes in me from the choir loft because I would not shut up. Finally, Daddy had had enough. He came down from the choir loft, came to my row, motioned for me to get up, and then he walked me to the opposite side of the church and showed me a place he felt I would be able to hear from the Holy Spirit better. And this brings me of two of my dad's sayings:
*Parenting is not for wimps.

*No is not a four-letter word.

My friends liked my dad. He was always nice to my friends. He was good at talking with them and showing them he was truly interested in whatever they had to say. He was also not afraid to goof off around them and be silly. They all thought he was funny. One time, my friends were over and we were all talking about funny "what if's" One of our scenarios was what would happen if you went to the drive through and politely tried to order breakfast at night. Over and over again. Pretty much until you have tried to order every single breakfast item. The next weekend Kiran, Kelly and I almost peed our pants as we went through the entire breakfast menu at the Burger King drive thru. The guy working the window was about our age, so I didn't feel bad for having so much fun at his expense. He literally stuck his head out the drive thru window and yelled at us as we drove away. Something about did we not understand english. I laughed so hard my face was hurting. My dad showed me how important it is to be accessible to your kids' friends. And to be silly with them.

My most special memories as an adult have been as each of my daughters were born. It's been neat to see him hold them and sing to them. He sings hymns to the babies. He says it's soothing. Just this morning he drove Allison and me to Allison's school. He and my mom wanted to know exactly where it is and what the procedure is. It reminded me of the few times he got to take me to Ben Bowen Elementary. He didn't get to take me often and the few times he did, I cried (quietly) all the way up the sidewalk because I wished I could just stay with him and forget all about silly school. I never told him that - maybe he knew.

I hope your birthday was as special as you are to me, Daddy. I sure do love you and treasure our time together - the time we had and the times to come.

Love,
Sissy