Celebrating Dad Today....

This picture is, as near as I can tell, my very first picture with my Dad. When I was engaged, I began working on a little project for my parents. The little project inevitably (as most of my projects do) turned into a bigger ordeal then I originally thought. I had decided that I was going to make a slide show for my parents full of pictures of our lives together. I thought that it would be a neat thing to give them right before I got married, and would serve as a small token of gratitude for everything they had done for me in the past 23 years of my life. Two problems arose with this project: #1 - All pictures of my childhood were taken long, long before our current digital-age, requiring the scanning of each individual picture into the computer (a long, pain-staking process). #2 - My mom did a lot of wonderful things for me during my childhood. However, organizing pictures was not one of them. :-) This meant sifting through boxes and boxes of pictures... and negatives?? In the end, after months of sorting, scanning, and arranging, the project was complete, and I presented it to my parents in my bedroom the night before my wedding. I had the best time making it, because of the hundreds of photos that I sifted through, each came with some sort of remarkable memory or meaning. I am reminded of that project today. Today has been spent honoring my Dad, and some of my favorite memories of our lives together have been captured in some of my favorite pictures: This series of pictures capture one of my very first memories of my life - playing basketball with my Dad on Christmas morning. He had given me a ball and hoop set - thing (I'm sure in hopes of me becoming a star athlete one day). Sorry, Dad. She shoots...... She SCORES!!! (And the crowd goes wild...) Here's another: Kissing Dad on the first day of preschool while wearing French braids (a first-day-of-school tradition that stuck until middle school). I couldn't possibly post all the pictures that make me grateful for my Dad. Laughing uncontrollably at some weird situation that only the two of us appreciate, traveling on an exciting surprise trip to the "Inner Space Caverns," carrying me to church Easter Sunday when I had a broken toe, arriving at church together only to turn right back around when we realized we had missed church altogether due to a daylight savings time change. :-) My favorite memory of my Dad is a little more recent. Here it is: My Dad has shown his love for me in unique ways all my life. He never missed a dance recital or a softball game. He stayed up with me at night to watch movies when I couldn't sleep. He sent me packages in the mail and called me on the phone when I was far away at school and broken-hearted. His quiet guidance has pulled me though some of the toughest situations time and time again. I love you so much, Dad, and I am so thankful for you, today and everyday.