...

I wanted to write a little blog entry about my Daddy.

My Daddy always told me that I needed to go to college. He wanted me to have a good job and to be able to support myself. At the end of his go-to-college speech, he always added "just like your Mom." He told me that I didn't need a man to make me happy or to support me and that I could take care of myself. It seems that a lot of my Dad's speeches and phrases have stuck with me. One of the most memorable phrases: It's better to have no friends than the wrong friends. When he said that during his toast at my wedding rehearsal dinner, everyone laughed.... because he looked right at my best friend when he said it. When a TV or movie character figured out the big mystery, I'd say something like - wow. How did he figure that out? Dad would always say "He/She read the script". When I was in middle school, he once asked me how many people sat at my lunch table. He wanted to know so that he could put enough peppermints in my lunch bag for everyone at my table. He used to cook extra bacon in the morning for our dog - he said that he knew she liked it. He brought my Mom coffee in bed every morning. Every year on my birthday, he called to sing "Happy Birthday" to me. Every year around Christmas, he called me everytime "The Chipmonk Christmas Song" was played on the radio - that's what song we danced to at my wedding. He liked to watch TV with the captions on. He called me Daughter and I called him Father - it started as a joke, but it stuck.

He was a very strong man - to the end. He never gave up. I miss him so much.