Daddy's girl

It endlessly strikes me as ironic (though perhaps not entirely illogical) how many people assume that if you're living far away from home then you must not get along well with your family ... that you must have suffered a troubled childhood, been thrown out of the house, run away, etc, etc, when I think in fact in most cases, it's those who've had the BEST family relations that are the ones that can successfully thrive away from home. Whatever the case, that's certainly the case for me and, in case there's any doubt, there's not a day that goes by that I don't think of my beloved family!

Being away also means that you aren't making new memories together ... so you are constantly reflecting on your favorite goldie oldies. Being Father's Day as it is (or at least I think it is? I don't know why the dang date has to change in each country ... can't we all just celebrate at the same time??), and being Daddy's girl as I am, I thought I might share out loud some of my all time favorite memories with you, Dad:

** All the endless hours with the steers ... picking them out, halter breaking, feeding, grooming - remember the time we had the crap scared out of both of us when we took one of them out of the chute after clipping him in the garage and he was "skating on pee" to the point I was sure he was going to break a leg?

** Lemonade breaks from painting the fence at the farm

** Tractor rides

** Endless, nightmarish, tear-filled nights of math exercises

** Breaking the ice in the water troughs

** Trips to CENEX

** Car shopping

** Crab pots summer crab fests at Grandma and Grandpa's

** The Beach

** The tree swing

** Tetherball until it was too dark to see

** The Kentucky Derby ... "would you like a ham'n'egger?", "come on, just put your toe down there by that fish"

** Building my tack box

** Your visit to Europe

** Curled up on your lap while you read to me

** Watching the evening news with you

** Sitting on the couch with the Christmas music just to look at the lights on the tree

** The jackrabbit postcard you brought back for me from one of your business trips

** The April's fools jokes you would call and play on us

** Going to visit you at your office

** Sunday brunches, Dad's Special BBQs and smores around the fire ...

I love you, Dad!