Dad.

Thank you for teaching me how to ski, when I could barely walk (& for carrying me down the mountain half of the time I'm sure). Thank you for making the best chocolate malts, & for always having dollar bills in your bag so that we could buy a soda at North Park while you were playing raquetball. Thank you for teaching me all of the verses to The Lord told Noah (there's gonna be a floody-floody) song. Thank you for teaching me about the stars & introducing me to Stephen Hawking, even though it was perhaps a tiny bit too cerebral for a 7 year old to understand. Thank you for reading to me every night, & for teaching me about the Who can be the most quiet for the longest game (it will come in handy some day). Thank you for being worthy to baptize me, & to give me a father's blessing at the beginning of every school year. Thank you for coming to my dance recitals, tennis matches, volleyball games & piano competitions even though you had a busy practice, not to mention six other kids. I've always felt important to you. Thank you for watching Star Trek with me every day after school, & for picking me up just to go for a ride with the top down. Thank you for helping me with my homework & reading all of my rough drafts (even all the way through college). Thank you for letting me work for you in unior high & high school, for showing me just how smart you really are & for allowing us to have some extra "bonding" time. I'm grateful for what I now know about teeth. Thank you for skipping out on the Daddy-Daughter Dance my senior year (with me) for dinner instead, because we both knew that would be more fun, for us. Thank you for your "help" on church talks. Your books of essays are gems. Thank you for not telling Mom, for months, about that little car accident I got in. It was our little secret. Thank you for coming & picking me up from Bellingham when I decided that I was ready to be in Provo - & thank you for never, ever saying anything remotely close to I told you so. Thank you for exploding your Coke (+ milk) all over my car on that trip, allowing me to be reminded for the next four years just how much you loved me. Thank you for your unfailing, constant support during that time. It was hard, & you made it easier. Thank you for being nice to Mike the first time I brought him home, & for taking him out on the motorcycle. I knew you'd like him. Thank you for allowing him to propose to me, & for recognizing that he made me happy. Thank you for building the cabin so that we could all be together, even if it's not nearly as often as I'd like. Thank you for getting double-hip replacement surgeries, all because you wanted to have fun with your kids (skiing, mountain biking, wake boarding, snowmobiling, etc). Thank you for crying at my wedding. And my wedding reception. And my other wedding reception. And the few times after that when you came to visit New York. Thank you for your daily phone calls on the way to work, or to the lake, or just because. And the postcards, although you've been failing a bit in that department lately (& I miss them). Most of all, thank you for your testimony that you've helped me develop, the example that I've had in you, & the friend that you've always been. 

(Happy Birthday.)