Ode to My Dad

July the 2nd was my Daddy's birthday!

My daddy...this is a pretty recent picture!

I always have been, and always will be, a Daddy's Girl.  


He is the only man I will ever completely trust; his word is the gospel.  


I really think he is the only man whose love for his family is outweighed by nothing, except for his love for the Lord.


His patience seems unending.

A not-so-recent picture!  I think I was about 2 here, and this is my all-time favorite picture!

My favorite memories of him are snuggling with him in the early morning.  We would sit in his recliner, me in his lap, his coffee cup balanced on one arm of the chair, and his open Bible on the other.  


He was a living example of having one's priorities in line...God, family, country.


He is a wealth of wisdom.  I've been around him for 28 years now, and am still surprised at some of the things he tells me!  I wonder how he knows it all!

I haven't seen an instrument he can't play, but he just doesn't look right without his guitar.  He always plays me this one song.  I don't think it has a name, but when I ask him to play it, he knows exactly which one it is, and which part I want to hear.

His smile is great!  It is genuine.  Warm.  Inviting.  It can make anyone comfortable.

He makes some killer ribs in the smoker.  No one goes away from his table hungry, no one.

I could count the number of times he has raised his voice on one hand.

My love for God, my state, my family, and homemade ice cream came directly from him.  So did my nose, which I don't love so much.

He taught me how a man should treat me.  He set the bar really high.  My mom is quite possibly the luckiest woman in the whole world.  Today, by the way, is also my parents' 30th wedding anniversary.  They are disgustingly in love.  Seriously.  They are worse than a couple of teenagers.  However, if more people would follow their example, there would be very few divorces.

I could talk to my daddy for hours on end, and never run out of things to talk about.  He might know me better than anyone.

Daddy and Mama at a cousin's wedding

If you've never met my Dad, you are missing out on knowing one of the most wonderful people on this earth.  And I am not saying that, just because I am his daughter.  I have been told that by many, many people who know my dad.  He will automatically love you, respect you, and assume you are a great person.  But, if you ever screw with his family, you will never have his respect again.

He is not a father.  He is a daddy.  And he is my daddy.