Happy Birthday Dad!!

Today would be Dad's 50th birthday! Can you believe it? Dad always seemed so young that 50 doesn't seem possible. Not that 50 is ancient. I don't mean to offend anybody. You know what I mean:) By the way, I still don't know whether to say "is his 50th birthday" or "would be his 50th birthday". If anyone figures this one out, feel free to let me in on it.

I believe this picture of Dad was taken in Estes Park, CO, somewhere along the main street downtown. Dad was always doing funny things like posing for pictures with Native American woman statues...)



Here's Dad in the Rockies again. Although he was only there a few times in his life, this was definitely one of his favorite places! Lisa sent me this picture. Lisa, do you remember where this one was taken or on what trip?



This is Dad at home in his and Mom's bedroom. This is how he always looked in the morning, even at about 5 am he was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. That's his Tigers' hat. As for the t-shirt, he had one for nearly every sports (mostly football) team around. And most of them were either (a) free, (b) cheap, or (c) purchased with Mountain Dew, Pepsi, or Marlboro points.



Here's another classic Dad pose. I don't remember this particular Christmas gift, but I'm sure he played around with the nephews with it until it broke and then considered it a dud. Please notice that Santa is wearing shorts and a t-shirt even at Christmastime. Dad was almost always more comfortable in shorts it seems like.



This is Dad with Charlie the first day we got him. He was a little ball of fur. He was (and is) sooo cute! Mom, what town did we drive up to to get him? They had all these puppies on this farm an hour or so up North. When we got Charlie home, we just played with him outside in the yard for the longest time. It was the perfect summer afternoon. I remember how a water dish was such a novelty to him. It was so interesting to him that he would just dump his whole head in there. And it was really funny when his ball landed in it. He'd try for a minute to get it and then look up at you desperately for help.

I've been thinking about Dad a lot lately. Sometimes I get so interested in stuff and things of this world. It helps to remember Dad and think about how he lived. Everything was so simple. For instance, if you get hung up about clothes like I sometimes do, think about Dad's wardrobe. It can be summed up in five pieces: t-shirt, jeans, sweat socks, white tennis shoes, and maybe a belt when you're feeling fancy. Dad just lived and had fun doing it. And he figured out all the big deal things about life along the way. That's what I want to do. Thanks for the advice Dad! I never knew how much I'd learn from Dad after he was gone, but he just keeps on giving...as usual.