Yo Dad

I'm sure many of you know my dad, and many of you don't.....actually we could probably 86 that last part. My dad is one of the most friendly and social people that I know, believe me he's never met a stranger. This is something he definitely gets from his dad and I know that I have acquired the same trait from him as well. My dad's laugh can fill up a room and when I hear it, I can find him basically anywhere in a building. On my birthday, my dad likes to tell me about the day I was born and he came out of the hospital on a Thursday morning and it was foggy and he was so excited and then everyone came to see me on the way tot he Booker basketball game the next day; he tells this story with so much passion that sometimes I wonder if he realizes that I'm nineteen. I love to go on bike rides with my dad, and watching every season of the Lost TV series with him and analyzing it all is a fond memory of mine. When I was little I used to ride the tractor with him and he'd turn the radio off and we sing, oh how we'd sing! Honestly, we probably sang half the songs in the Faith and Praise hymnal on that tractor. We also love to share our knowledge about the world of technology: fun fact- my dad introduced me to blogging and twitter... I know totally a backwards relationship this day in age. My dad knows that I have a thing for writing poetry and I won't see him until next week so for a pre-cursor to his gift I thought I'd write a poem and dedicate it to him....

For the man who is always there for every laugh and tear
I dedicate this poem to you for all the world to hear.

Remember when I was little and every morning we made biscuits together?
And then I became a teenager and still haven't eaten a biscuit in forever..

Remember when we used to sing on the tractor all day,
and at night you'd chase all the monsters in my nightmare away?

Remember all the mornings you read bible stories to the brothers and me,
I used to get so mad when you wouldn't read another chapter and you'd just laugh with glee?

Remember all the bedtime stories you read to me at night,
Even the brothers would sometimes join us sitting still and not trying to fight?

You don't remember this but I do, you took Katie, Shelley, and me to the movies
And Katie looks at me and says, "You are his princess"....it's totally true.

Remember in high school when I started saying "Love me" and you told mom it was just a phase,
Now you two both say it, obviously it was a craze. :)

Remember when you taught me to cook and the months after ate many hamburgers far too pink and many steaks that were burned
And then years later I cook for you and your taste buds vouch for how much I have learned?

I know someday that a boy will come my way, and there is no easy way to say
that the shoes he will have to fill are large in size; the model man he must live up to lives his life through his "Father's Eyes."

So dad, thank you for everything you have ever been, will be, and are to me,
I really hope that in our case the apple does not fall far from the tree.