thirty days with a grateful heart - day eleven

day eleven - daddy's girl

This week my therapist wanted to talk a little about my family life growing up, which made me realize that I have written ad infinitum about my momma on this blog, but I have not written very much at all about my dad. 

I've never told you how special a man he truly is.  How loyal, how faithful, how simply... good he is.  The honest to God truth is that my dad is as good a man as the day is long - he really, really, really is - there is just no other way to put it.

I've never told you how he has protected our country or how for years, and through three tours to Vietnam, he has fought, without reservation, for the basic freedoms I take for granted each and every day.

I've never told you how my dad was supposed to be deployed before I was born, or how he made the doctor induced me so that he could see me and hold me, at least once, before he had to go. 

I've never told you how he has supported me.  How he has listened to me.  Or how patient he is.   How he sat through every cheerleader ready-set-ok I ever wanted to show him without rolling an eye. 

I've never told you how I get my love of Indycar, of blackjack, of crosswords and of just about everything football from him.  How we share the same love of church and oh, the same hate for conflict.

I've never told you how much I've learned from him, about kindness and humility.  About how much his respect and love for me has influenced the woman I have become today.


I've never told you about how deeply he loved my mother.  So much so I find it difficult to put into words.  Or, about how incredibly he took care of her once she became ill.  How he would have sold his soul to protect her, to shelter her, from what she had to endure. 

I've never told you about his gentleness when he speaks to me, the sparkle in his eyes when he sees me, or the way that he hugs me that makes me certain I will forever be safe. 

I've never told you how much I love him.  How much I adore him.  How deeply grateful I am that I am his and he is mine.

No, I had never told you any of those things.   Maybe, just maybe, because I didn't need to.  

I'm pretty sure my daddy knows.