Thirty Days of Thanksgiving

Day 16

I am so very grateful for my daddy.  Today would be his 85th birthday, but he is celebrating it with Jesus.  

• He was first and foremost a man of God.  He read his Bible and prayed faithfully, and he walked humbly with God.  He was a deacon and the church treasurer and an all-around-mister-fix-it; he even served as the music director for a time in our very small church.  
• He loved my mama.  I remember once when she and I were in the kitchen arguing, and I was being downright rude to her.  My normally gentle daddy came flying in from the living room, grabbed me, and yelled "You may not speak to her that way; she is my wife!"
• He loved me, and I never doubted that love; it was unconditional.
• He was an artist and an engineer, and he loved music; he was always singing or humming or whistling.
• He had a subtle sense of humour and many expressions that seemed unique to him.  I have since realized that most of these were not original, but rather regional and generational.  Things like: "forty-leven dozen", "fair to middlin' ", "the good Lord willin' and the creek don't rise", "no thanks; just had a bar of soap", and if we said, "Daddy, you know what?"  He would reply, "No, but I know his brother which." 

~ Happy Birthday, Daddy; i miss you!