daddys day was made for my daddy

i remember sitting on the couch near my daddy when he was asleep, holding the orange jack-o-lantern bucket that held all of my hair trimmings, taking each pink barrette and colored scrunchie and making my dads head look like a Barbie on crack.

i remember Christmas eve, my daddy setting up the video camera to record us opening up our gifts and seeing that we got "what we always wanted." we'd give a "thanks, Mom," and my dad would never fail to say "what about Dad?"

i remember going hunting one time early in the cold morning with my daddy, decked out in camouflage and freezing my butt off. the leaves were dry beneath our feet, and although there was no possible way to take a step without making the fallen foliage creak, my dad kept turning around to tell me to be quiet. we didn't get a deer, and i never went hunting again.

my dad has been one of the two most influential people in my life, my mother, of course, being the other. as a teenager, i clearly was the smarter and more wise between my father and i, and as a result, we frequently didn't get along. regardless, i still looked at him as the hardest working, greatest man i've ever known.

23 years with my father, we still bump heads often. we are clones of one another, although we try to infrequently admit it.

i am so thankful to still have my father in my life to influence me, keep me on the right road, to love me. i know he'll always be there for me, no matter what - and that's why i'm the luckiest daughter .. ever.

i love my daddy.