Today is the anniversary of the birth of my father.  Let me take a few minutes to tell you a little about him. 

My father is a guy who never lost his love of learning.  He reads ferociously, and passed that tendency on to all his children.  It is no surprise my sisters and I have all earned either a Master or Juris Doctor Degree in fields where reading and writing is the core of the curriculum.  Throughout our lives, he challenged us to think, to debate, to serve our community and to never stop working to make our world a better place.

He taught us that loyalty and charity begins in the home, through his example as a loving and loyal husband and father.  So many of the gifts he provided to his three daughters are still not fully realized, but are becoming more and more so every day as we each work to make our way in this world, raise our children, work and serve in our communities. 

My father is neither loud nor boisterous, but he is witty and kind.  He was always in the audience at ballet recitals, school plays, soccer games, and awards dinners.  He wore goofy costumes and sat around fake campfires with me as a Y-Indian Dad.  He didn’t care if you played the whole game (like one of my sisters) or rode the bench (like me). 

He was there with cheerful quips that all too often caused my sisters and I to say “Dad” in two syllables as we blushed and hoped our friends wouldn’t think he was “dorky”.  He was there to tell us he was proud every time we had reached a goal.  The biggest gift of all – he gave it to us?  That’s right, he was there. 

You don’t realize what a gift “being there” is when you are young.  But in today’s world, “being there” is a luxury too many children do not have.  He was there, and that meant everything.  All that I am, and all that my sisters have become, is the product of his (and our mother’s) loyalty, caring and “being there”.

And, of course, he is still there for me today.

What do you give a man who has everything, and has given you everything?  Well, you give him what only you can give…. a blog entry dedicated to telling the world how great he is, and how proud you are to be his daughter.

Thanks, Dad.  Happy Birthday!