Happy Dad's Day!

Laughter. I grew up with so much laughter in our house. There was also a lot of dancing, mostly to Motown and classic rock. Girl talk...SO MUCH girl talk, and all of the things that come with raising two little girls- dress up, hairdos, My Little Ponies...

I'm sure that anyone on the outside looking in at our family dynamic had to think, "That poor Ben, surrounded by estrogen!" In truth, he was. Just about every pet we ever owned was a female. He was literally surrounded by the female race.

I can't count how many times, my dad sat in the floor with us and played my favorite game- Pretty Pretty Princess. Basically, for those of you who have never played it, it consists of dressing yourself in gaudy, plastic, costume jewelry including a tiara and dangly earrings. If you landed on the black diamond, you had to start over which meant taking off all of your jewelry! I dreaded the black diamond...Looking back, I bet Dad prayed he would land on the black diamond...

He let us put sponge rollers in his hair, and helped pick out dresses for our stuffed animals- while we watched movies like the Carebears and My Little Ponies. Never once complaining!

I eventually grew into somewhat of a tomboy. Dad got me to fall in love with sports,  Star Wars, and good music (like James Taylor and The Rolling Stones). And my sister grew to love golf, Dad's favorite pastime. I know he loved this phase of our lives, and finally having some things in common with his little girls. But sometimes I can't help but think he misses the plastic dangly earrings and puffy slips (even if he won't admit it).

Dad taught me how to mow the lawn, how to rip up tile floors, how to punch boys when they were inappropriate, and how to dance like Bill Cosby, (seriously, my husband has my father to thank for my embarrassing dance moves.)

He taught me to act silly and not take life too seriously. To this day, I blame my ability to make a complete fool of myself and not feel any shame or embarrasment, on him.

This would be the previously mentioned dance moves...and also
the not taking life too seriously

In so many ways I am so much like Dad. We share the same sense of humor, the same explosive temper (which is always followed by the ability to forgive quickly), taste in music, inability to refill the toilet paper roll, and a love of Jack Daniels and good cigars.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, I hope you have a happy Father's Day, Dad. So much of who I am is because of you, whether you like it or not. You're the best Poppa a girl could ask for....even if you did trip me that time i was trying to be a graceful ballerina! :)