Happy Birthday Dad!

Saturday my dad turned the big six-oh. Such a strange thing , to know that his life is more than half over. To commemorate it, my sister and I came up with the following list and had it framed:

Sixty Great Things About Our Dad
1. He is an adventurer and a big kid at heart.
2. He climbed a tree to make a swing when the ladder wasn’t tall enough.
3. He pushed us high, high, high on the swing.
4. Countless games of “chase” first with us
5. Now with his grandkids.
6. He brought Rusty home – without asking.
7. He brought Funny Face home with the washer and dryer.
8. The invention and play of “Hot Lava”
9. The “Midnight Feeding Frenzy”
10. Taught us how to drive.
11. Bought our first car, and our second
12. Supported us through college.
13. And ‘gave’ us away.
14. Driving countless times to Omaha with Gretchen.
15. Using all his vacation to go to Paris with his girls.
16. Took us camping.
17. Taught us how to build a fire.
18. Taught us how to grill a great steak.
19. Let us use gas when we were out of lighter fluid.
20. Let us throw matches at it.
21. Took Danielle to Adventureland when Mom and Gretchen were away.
22. Went to countless High School events to support his girls.
23. Ran with Gretchen many times to school for cross country training.
24. Took Danielle out of school to play golf.
25. Took Danielle out of school to roof the screened in porch.
26. He has a garage full of tools.
27. He knows how to use them.
28. He is always willing to help us with projects around our homes.
29. For help laying & refinishing hardwood floors.
30. And grouting tile.
31. The beautiful walnut chests he built for each of us – no nails involved.
32. He runs for fun & the four marathons he’s run.
33. Loves a good rare steak.
34. And finishing off the last of the ice cream so we wouldn’t have to.
35. Is always concerned for us.
36. Never lets us leave with out saying “Drive safe”
37. And, “Call us when you get home”
38. And, “Let me check the oil”
39. And the $20 for gas. Many times.
40. And the “I love you”
41. Not afraid to try something new – like the Alligator hunt.
42. Let Danielle practice cutting hair on him.
43. Until she got it right.
44. Let Danielle take him for his first tattoo.
45. Shares his kill – the buffalo and deer are great.
46. Loves a bowl of sugared popcorn.
47. Waving at the door with Mom.
48. For picking up the check out for dinner many times.
49. For helping Danielle hunt and clean her first pheasant.
50. For helping Danielle hunt and clean her first deer.
51. Likes to see how fast the car will go, and lets his girls try also.
52. For many seasons of morel mushroom hunting.
53. And scouting them out to let us find some.
54. Countless canoe trips.
55. Hunting with us for artifacts – pottery, horse bones & arrowheads.
56. For finding the ring he lost on Danielle’s birthday – the one Mom gave him when she was born.
57. For showing us what unconditional love is all about.
58. For marrying and loving our mother all these years.
59. For giving us a role model for which to measure the men in our lives by.
60. Being the greatest Dad we could have asked for.

This is just a short list of the things we love you for.

All our love,
Gretchen and Danielle