Happy Birthday, Daddy!

67 years ago today the man I know as my Daddy entered this world. For his birthday I want him to know that his youngest child is not only proud of him and the many noteworthy projects he has completed since the day of his birth, but also, I am proud to possess many of the personality characteriatics that make him a unique and dynamic individual! According to the Psalmist, when we are conceived God "knits" us together in our mother's womb, and accepting this as God's truth as I acknowledge science's findings about reproduction, I believe that when he created me, God took a few select and intentional strands of my father's DNA and knit them together with an equal number of strands from my mother's DNA to form me into an individual capable of certain specific tasks that he had designed for me to accomplish in my lifetime in order to expand his kingdom here on earth, which means to me that my life along with every other human being that has ever been and will ever be in existence is intended to grow the number of people on this earth who know, love, trust, and follow their creator. As I reflect on the person my father is in comparison to the person I am today, I can identify one or two characteristics in my personality that must have been contained on the yarn-like DNA strands that God handpicked from my father when he made me 31 years ago. The most predominate characteristic in both our personalities is intense passion no matter what emotion or activity we are experiencing whether it be happiness, sadness, anxiety, compassion it is likely to be an intensely passionate experience for us and anyone within our direct vacinity. Less obvious to my father because he considers himself inadequately educated in a traditional sense and a bad speller, is that we both love words and learning, and every area of our existence being fueled by our passionate nature, we have a tendancy toward articulate verbal and written artistic expression. I enjoy possessing both of these characteristics handed down to me by my Daddy, and I am pleased to report that I can already detect signs of their presence in the sweet life of my daughter:) Based on comments my father has made in recent years, I have gathered that one of his major life regrets is the amount of time he was away while I was growing up due to his passionate personality in combination with his career creating a great deal of professional success, which ultimately resulted in frequent business travel. All I can say in response to that I, " pshaw!" He was around enough for me to learn from his example that it is important to stand up for what we know is right and true, and that belief is something to contend with when combined with our passion! My Daddy's example also taught me to value people no matter their position in society, and to dig deep into the word of God. I am happy to be the person I am today, and I am pleased to give my father credit for helping me become that person! Happy 67th Birthday, Daddy!:) Thank you for being the main character in my earliest memory of you singing and rocking me to sleep, for running along beside me hollering encouragements at cross-country meets even though it annoyed me at the time, for taking me on business trips to Washington D.C. with you, for allowing mom to squander all your hard earned money on clothes during my teen years, for running all over the states to find the exact color of the NIKE running watch that I picked out in my running magazine until you found it ( I still have that watch because that meant a lot to me that you went to all that trouble, and I know that is probably just the one time of many of which I am aware!), and for the look of compassion that you were unable to express when I was crying because a boy hurt my teenage pride. I love you, and you were around enough for me to be confident of that, and I think that makes you a GREAT Daddy!