Dad

I really feel the need to express my gratitude for my dad today, especially with Father's Day being this weekend. He does SO much for us constantly, monetarily and otherwise, and I never really sit down to express how thankful I am for all he does and has done for us over the past two years.

For my entire life, my dad has done so much for me. He always made sure I had the things I needed and sometimes the small extras that I simply wanted for school or my activities. He always made sure I had the best of everything I had; you could definitely say he spoiled me. Although my parents have been divorced since I was 4, my dad has always made sure to do everything he could to be present in mine and my brother's life. As much grief as I give him for allowing my brother to get away with everything, as I really look back, I got away with a lot too, he was just more protective because I was his first and only daughter.


While most of the things he's given me throughout my life have been monetary gifts, it still means more than just money to me. It goes so much deeper than just handing me a 20 when I see him. He always watches out for the things we need monetarily. He makes sure that we're not going to sink and that we can still succeed. I suppose that is just the best way he knows how to be a father. He will do anything he needs to in order to send my brother and I through as much college as we want at no expense to us. I have a bachelors degree and am about to get an associates degree soon, and as of now I have no student debt whatsoever, thanks to my dad. While I know it is part of learning and growing to encounter those types of monetary trials, somehow even with my dad's help, we still end up having our own struggles. I guess my dad would rather us be able to focus on becoming everything we want to become than worry about the smaller more tedious things.

I always hate asking him for money and I only do when I absolutely have to. (Like if our electricity is going to be turned off if we don't pay the bill) But there are so many things that are just small extras that he always makes sure we have, if we want them.

For instance, he came to let me clean his teeth last semester even though he hadn't been to the dentist in 10+ years because he hates going. He made the sacrifice 3 times to drive to Tucson from Chandler to help me learn. During his visits, he noticed that my instructors consistantly were telling me to sit up straight and that I have terrible posture. They would always follow it up with the question if I had bought loupes or not?

(Loupes are those glasses with the magnifiers on the lenses like in Grey's Anatomy & ER. They force/allow you to sit correctly and still be able to see what you're doing just as well. Preventing carpal tunnel and all the other problems that can arise from sitting incorrectly day after day for years)


When I would tell my instructors that I didn't buy the loupes when everyone else in the class did because I didn't have an extra $1500.00 laying around, my dad became concerned. He immediately asked if I really needed them and instructed me to email him the rep's number so he could call and place the order. Even though he's not totally hyped on me becoming a dental hygienist, he still felt the importance of the loupes, and didn't want the cost to be the reason I didn't have something I needed.

My loupes arrived today in the mail, and I can't be more grateful to my dad for them!

Over the past two years, even though my dad contemplated disowning me when Danny and I got engaged, he has since:

~Come to the temple, to wait outside and see us come out, even with as completely anti as he is

~Walked me down the aisle at the ring ceremony

~Bought a house for us to live in rent free while I'm in school
~Lent Danny money for his school so he would be able to register and get the classes he needed before the deadline
~Paid a few of our bills when Dan was out of a job for a month
~and SO much more.

Those are just the three things that hit me the most because they were the things that he swore he would never do when Dan asked if he could marry me.

I know there will never be anything I can do to repay my dad for all he's done for me throughout my life, and now for Danny and in the first 2 years of our marriage. As much as Alan & I tease him about having "gas station pizza" & peaches for dinner every night when we were younger and in school elementary school, those are the memories we will never forget. I just wanted to sit and really contemplate and express my love and appreciation for him today and always. I Love You, Dad!


His 50th birthday is coming up in November and I am trying with all my might to think of something wonderful to do/get for him. I want something that he'll never forget, something that will be one of the highlights of his life when he looks back on it. Any suggestions?