Dad ❤️

I remember one night when I was really little, I had a worse than usual asthma attack. My inhaler wasn’t working and I remember barely being able to breathe. I didn’t really understand how scared I should have been back then. You drove me to the ER, staying calm the entire time and making me feel so safe. I really felt like it would all be fine and I can’t imagine how scary that must have been for you and Mom. She stayed home with Marshall, so it was just the two of us going to the hospital. Even thinking back to that, I’m sure part of me was enjoying that it was just the two of us, because I’ve always been such a daddy’s girl.

Once we parked, you got out and came and scooped me up, cradling me in your arms, which was my favorite thing. (I remember in the mornings when you’d get home from the fire station, I would always ask you to carry me like that into yours and Mom’s bedroom, where Marshall and I would ask you to tell us all about the calls you made.) Somehow, just feeling the comfort of you holding me and inhaling the cool air outside, I was able to breathe better and didn’t feel as panicked. I got my breathing treatment there, then we went home.

When I think of you, I think of all the people you’ve saved, myself included. As a firefighter, you save people physically, but in your personal life you have also saved so many of us in various ways.

Like the homeless men you used to bring home to help you work, and Mom would cook them a meal, and you’d be sure to pray with them and give encouragement. I even remember you picking up a guy while we were with you one day on the way to church and Mom was so mad! 😂 But you knew in your heart it was something you needed to do.

And like all the animals we took in over the years that you never wanted and you ended up being the one to take care of them as well as being the one who paid for everything for them.

And like all the kids who were family and friends who were able to look up to you as a father figure because their own dads weren’t doing a great job. You were always willing to help, to teach, to listen, to accept.

I could go on for hours talking about how you’re the most incredible human, and it would always feel like I have more to say.

Grateful doesn’t encompass how I feel about the fact that you’re my dad. I am ecstatic, in awe, amazed, proud, and overjoyed that I am your daughter.

Thank you, for absolutely everything. I love you so very much. I love you so much in fact, that I married a man who smells like you half the time - like sweat and sawdust. 😉

Happy Father’s Day! ❤️

And thank you for letting our father/daughter dance be Come On Eileen. It’s so perfectly us!