Daddy's Girl

"We stand together in front of the mirror, one of us old and the other no longer young. I think of the ties that bind us: our sense of family, our sense of place, our sense of fairness. The old man next to me stands tall, walks softly, and says nothing, even when his heart is full of feeling." -Michelle Morris

I can tell you right now I will probably not make it through this post without tears. Yesterday I spent the day celebrating the man that I have been blessed to call my dad. My father is the most amazing man I know aside from my husband; they share the title.  It was very hard to imagine that there could be someone that might share that spot with my dad.  He held that place in my life, alone, for many years. Everyone says that I am so much like my mother (which may be true) but I am forever my father's daughter. Just ask anyone who has so much as questioned that my daddy was anything less than the hero in my life; apparently, you do not want to know the wrath that follows.  This is something I did not know about myself until someone pointed it out to me after a discussion on if my father would come and find me like Liam Neeson did for his on-screen daughter in Taken. Sure as shoot he would and no one better try to dispute that claim!

My dad has a stillness that does not run very much through many of his children, but I would like to think that I have received many of my qualities from him. His determination at never giving up on those he loves is amazing. He has had every reason to give up on some of them and yet he stands, solid, against all that the world may throw at him. In a world where it seems like people are so quick to give in when the going gets tough, he shows me what it really means to hang on through it all - even if your heart is bleeding - and the reasons why, sometimes, it is so important. He is a shield. A barrier, barring out the world and trying to keep it from attacking, too strongly, those he loves.  He is a man of few words, surrounded by people who love to talk. Yet when he has something to say, it is as if the world stills for a second, just to lean in and listen. He is strong and noble, the very essence of what a man should aspire to be. I am so amazingly blessed by the example that he set for me and the fact the because of him, I know that my children will be able to be led be the same solid assurance in their own father. 

This man- the thoughtful one, the loving one, the funny one, the strong one- is a man who carries many titles on his back (good thing he is fit for an "old guy"). He is the provider. A lawyer who will probably never know the definition of the word retirement. It just really is not a part of who is. Yet, he is also a surfer.

A kick-your-shoes-off, sand-in-your-toes, paddles-the-lake-everyday (if he can't be on the ocean) dedicated boarder. He is a son, a husband, a friend. He is the best grandpa "Surf Daddy" that any fairy princess grand kid could ever ask for.

But the title that I love most, the one that he will be until I take my last breath, is my daddy. I love him to the end of the world and back again and am blessed beyond measure to call him mine.

*Even if he did give me my red eyes and fair skin, I still wouldn't trade it for the world!

Lazy Days

I am sitting here being lazy and knowing that I should probably move my behind, however, since I figured I would not find the motivation to do that at this exact moment I figured it was a good enough time to catch up on blogging. I was reading through some blogs and stumbled across the Sunday Currently with Lauren while I was reading posts from the wonderful Ashley. Today is actually Saturday but I figured what the heck? This seems fun and light-hearted for my lazy day and given that I am prone to breaking rules on occasion I decided I would go ahead and jump the gun.

So here is what I am doing on this Sunday Saturday Currently...

Reading: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets... for probably the 5th time. And loving it! Dobby melts my heart. How can you not love a soul so kind?!

Writing: This post and one about my daddy for tomorrow.  I love that man!! Happy Father's Day to all of the wonderful daddies out there.

Listening: To Hoarders: Buried Alive and Dead at 17. Yes, I am a channel flipper. I do not watch me any commercials... ick!

Thinking: About how absurd tv can be and how I should probably move from this couch and get motivated on getting stuff done, but I am just exhausted and the mind-numbingness is quite nice right now.

Smelling: Nada... I would like to be smelling some popcorn popping though.  I could totally go for a movie night right about now.

Wishing: That my coffee table worked like the house tables at Hogwarts and that food would just magically appear from the invisible kitchen that I am sure is right below my floor. I be hungry, but have no motivation to make anything. Man, I am really working it today. Please don't judge my laziness! Or my decision to use improper grammar.

Hoping: For sunshine tomorrow so that we can enjoy the day outside with my dad!

Wearing: Cut off sweats and a hoodie, I be scrubbin' and loungin'!

Loving: The fact that I leave for Tennessee in just three short days! I could not be more excited!

Wanting: See smelling...

Needing: To get off this couch, shower and get moving. But... I feel like that is just not going to be happening.

Feeling: Exhausted!

Clicking: Back and forth between channels when the commercials come on.

Hope everyone is enjoying their Saturday currently!
Anyone else having a lazy day like me?

House Elves and Engineering

Want this!! 

I find it especially fitting for this week considering the little cleaning that typically gets done has been left by the wayside as I have been in planning mode all weekend and am in teaching mode all week. 

I have been a little MIA the last couple days and probably will continue to be for most of this week. I am teaching an engineering camp this week to a group of boys going into first through third grade.  Yes, I said engineering! No, I do not know anything about engineering! But I am learning. And, the kids seem to enjoy camp so far, which is all I was hoping for. It started as a potential photography camp, which morphed into a games camp, which then morphed into Lego camp, which has now become engineering camp. Yesterday, we were civil engineers and designed newspaper forts and then today we were chemical engineers. It was a messy day, but have no fear nothing was blown up! Except for maybe my gumption... I am wiped. 

I am missing this blogging world though, so while I take the time to go and stalk some of the posts I have been missing out on (since upon making it home last night I did nothing but crash) enjoy a pic that I am hoping made my bro very happy.  Those fine little children would be my nieces and nephew. The ones at the bottom (other than me) are my sister, who takes claim to the two kids on the right and my other bro, who takes claim to the lil' one on the left. These people make me happy (and on occasion drive me stark raving bonkers; including the one in the bottom middle)! 

Somebody's Son

I wasn't sure how to go about today's post. I never planned to discuss politics. And for the most part that is not where this will go but it might be in there so if any of this offends you, well, I'm sorry!

This is my "little" brother. He is currently deployed in Afghanistan. He just received a promotion and was made the spotlight for his platoon's Facebook page. They do that occasionally to keep loved ones updated on their soldiers. I could not be more proud of him!! He has truly forged a path for himself far different than any my family would have thought for him but he is making it his own and he is becoming such an amazing man. This post is about him and men and woman like him.

I will never know what it is like to be a soldier. I will never have to know because of people like him who willingly sign up to serve our country. So when, on the day that we have dropped him off to deploy, my mom happens to see a certain bumper sticker on the back of a car in the Cracker Barrel parking lot I may get somewhat offended.  I have seen many a bumper sticker with all kinds of differing opinions. I am all for them! We are all different, we all have our opinions and mine may not be the same as yours and I believe that is ok. We are a free country, formed on differences. However, when your bumper sticker reads "If you support the war, feel free to send your children to the front lines." I may feel a little hurt.  Especially to have my mother see that, on that day, was heartbreaking. She is a little more forth coming with her opinions than me, but on that day I don't think she even knew what to say. It had already been a morning of many tears. Her youngest child just went to the front lines and someones car is practically begging for him to go.

The army was never something discussed with Patrick. My parents were sure that he was going to end up playing golf, coaching golf, doing something golfish.  He is an amazing golfer (and now he is an amazing soldier).  They had tried to send my other brother to military school (the straighten your shiz out kind) but he only lasted a day. That was the last the military was really discussed with any form of connection to my brothers.

Patrick decided on his own that he was going to enlist. He had met a former marine and that is where his story began. Politics was never something very openly discussed in our home, we were allowed to form our own opinions. My parents backgrounds differed from each others in many ways and one side was never promoted or slandered.

When any person chooses to enlist, it is for reasons the resonate with them. Just because someones family may believe in the military and all it stands for doesn't mean that their child will automatically decide to enlist and just because they may not believe in it doesn't mean their child won't. At 18 we are all adults, all legally able to decide our own path in life. My brother chose his. I ask that you not diminish that decision. He is my brother, he is my parents son, he is a young man forming a life for himself and we as people should support that. I choose to stand behind him, not only because he chooses to stand in front but because he is my brother and I love him. If I could change your bumper sticker I would like to have it read, "Whether or not you support the war, that person on the front lines is someones son or daughter."

That man up there in the green will always be this kid to me. The boy who was my bud, the "baby" of the family and the one with a huge heart. He is the man who loves his nieces and nephew like nobody's business and the one who is becoming one of the best and strongest men I know. Please do not wish him harm! He is my brother.

Hot Mess Mamacita

I was at the beach with my family a while back and took the picture below. I had planned to post it earlier but then began the challenge to blog everyday in May and this post just didn't make its way into the mix. So I shall share it with you now, partly because it was already written and I have to be at work by 7:30 and partly because I haven't seen my niece in a couple weeks and am missing her. 

This is my beautiful niece; I call her Lele or, on occasion, mamacita.  This picture was taken at the beach, hair all askew, eyes as red as if she were related to a Cullen, and in great need of a nap.  I absolutely love this picture! One, because I love this little girl with my whole heart but mainly because it represents how truly related we are.

Heaven help us, this child is the exact replica of her mama and me... please pardon me while I take a moment in prayer.

Lord,
Please keep her safe from herself! She is so much like the other women in our family and we were all blessed by Your good hand with just a little bit of 'cray' and impulsiveness.  We have the uncanny knack of always finding that "fine line" and riding it just as long as we can; please keep her toes on this side of it.  Protect her from men with the perfect combination of gorgeous eyes and smooth words.  You know what a disastrous recipe that can be.  Make her strong enough to not be a welcome mat that gets walked all over but hospitable enough to always keep the door unlocked for a friend on a rainy night.  And when I say unlocked, what I really mean is bolted tightly until she has looked through the peephole once said friend has knocked, because while I hope she is trusting I already know she's not stupid.  Thank you for putting a good size brain in her head.  Keep a hand firmly on her shoulder and a guard over her heart.
- Amen

Now that I have a good bit more help on her side I feel a little more at peace.  Man, if she doesn't have it cut out for her though.  I think it is seems like she got all the impulsivity and stubbornness in my soul and the impulsivity and stubbornness in my sisters and they combined to create a firework of independence! She's like the Fourth of July that child - feisty as all get out - but she is also sweet and kind and caring.  She can turn up the charm like a leprechaun on St. Patty's Day and has her Unca' Andrew wrapped around her little finger (ie: "Aunt Mel can I have a lollipop" "No, sorry you may not." Two minutes later... "Aunt Mel?!" And she's peeking around the corner of my bathroom with a sucker in her mouth. I hear Babe shout from the kitchen.  "Lee? I said don't show Aunt Mel". See what I mean?! That so would have been me at her age.) Bless any sweet daughters I may have and help me to keep them from being spoiled to death (Lord, can I please just have one.  I will take all the boys You are willing to give, but just one daughter please?! I am not sure it I can handle any more than that). Thanks!