Dad's Birthday

Yesterday was Dad's birthday. I for one have always been tremendously thankful that my birthday isn't in the summer -- so often we are traveling, either on the road, or somewhere away from home. Saturday was Elizabeth's birthday and it was spent picking Andy and me up from camp, and driving to Grandpa and Grandma's house in Illinois. And Dad's birthday was spent driving home from Illinois. We were stopped for about 1.5 hours because of a wreck, and stopped about 5 times to change drivers, because everyone was so tired. We got home much later than Dad had wanted to, and he had to head upstairs to get some work in before dinner. Then we had dinner pretty informally, and shortly after we finished, a gentleman came with some papers for Mum and Dad to sign. Sounds like an ideal birthday, right? We finally found time for a celebration of sorts -- Andy and I had been able to sneak off to Kroger and buy a pie, and we ate that and gave him a flag pole and flag as a gift, something he's been wanting for a while. Although it wasn't the best birthday ever, Dad was so gracious to all of us, and enjoyed the little things we did do.

In our family, it's a tradition to go around the table and have everyone say one thing about the birthday person that they appreciate, or think is special. Isaac started us off with, "He gives me money every Saturday!" That put us all in a pretty good mood, and since silliness is pretty typical of Dad, he enjoyed it. But there were some serious ones mixed in as well (we had to go around twice to reveal all of them though. lol). Honesty, integrity, fun to talk to, a good listener (which was responded to by, "huh?" . . . which I fell for and said it again. lol), a good sense of humor, faithful provider for our family, and the best Kindergarten teacher in the world. Also, Isaac said, "He plays fair. Not like Zeke." and Mum started to say, "I appreciate Dad because. . . " when Isaac jumped in with, "He's a good wife, right?"

But all in all, a good time spent with family. As Mum said, he is such a faithful father to us -- he puts up with all of our imperfect quirks and annoying-ness, and sticks with it no matter what. Some dads don't do that, so we are doubly thankful for ours! Happy Birthday Dad!