Dear Daddy,
I want to tell you how much I love you, how grateful I am that I am able to call you my daddy. You have always been there for me when I call. Your comforting voice has been with me the past 22 and 1/2 years. You are never more than a phone call away. I can tell you a funny story. I can tell you something that's been on my mind. You understand my highs and lows, joys and deepest hurts. Although you may never hear about some of my even deeper hurts, it doesn't really matter, because you are there. Comforting, guiding, helping.
I remember the day that the "October Surprise" happened, and watching our Bradford Pear get hurt. I remember how the 2002 Ice Storm hit and you were in Las Vegas for work, and the tree suffered the fatal blow. And I remember how you finally cut down that tree later that year. I was so mad at you. Then there was that "rebel" time I went through near the end of my teens when I was a freshman or sophomore in college and hated being at home. I was so mad at you and mom then too. I don't remember why, I just know I was.
But how could I be mad when I think back to everything good that has happened. I miss storytime at night. No joke. I miss you making pancakes Saturday mornings, and pizza Sunday nights. I miss you taking me and Abigail to all the grocery stores in town and the bank on Saturdays. I miss our summer vacations, and hiking mountains in Colorado, and you whooping my butt. I miss running down to see you when you came home from work during the weekdays. I miss going to BSF with you, and grabbing some Taco Bell or Krispy Kreme afterwards, or a Shamrock Shake at McDonalds.
Where has the time gone? I miss you so much. I miss just seeing you every day.
You have taught me so much.
I watched you faithfully serve my peers in youth group for 9 years. You were there early and stayed late to help set up or tear down, or both. You never complained, never made a fuss. Your best friends were JB and Chip.
I also used you as a standard to what my guy friends should be and act like, and how they should treat me. I've tried earnestly to choose friends who you and Mom would be happy to talk to and befriend, and more recently, approve of dating. That shouldn't be my only concern, but there's just something in me that wants to see a piece of you in my guy friends: how they treat me, humor, and how much they love the Lord. This has obviously been on my mind a lot more recently, and life has been amazing because of it.
So, even though I miss being your little girl, I'm learning how to step away from that into a new phase of life. And it's turning out to be awesome as well. :)
I love you from the bottom of my heart. Thank you for being you. For being Daddy.
