Father's Day and a Birthday

Yesterday was Father's Day (I hope you all remembered).  It also just happened to be my best friend's birthday as well.  First, I'm going to talk about Father's Day though.

Ok.... so I know there is a a shortage of super awesome dad's in the world, although I am happy to say I wasn't one of the girls in the world that got shorted.  I most definitely have the most amazing dad in all the world.  I know a lot of you really do believe yours is the best, and I'll let you pretend all your want! (just joking with you.... I am sure there are a lot of dad's that are just perfect for THEM)   Even though I do this pretty much every year, let me tell you why my dad is just perfect for ME.  Growing up, my dad had the kind of jobs and callings in the church that allowed him to drag his little girls with him if they wanted.  I have countless memories of delivering news papers at super early hours of the morning with my dad - learning how to toss those babies out the car window and have them land in a decent place so the subscriber could find them!  No, I wasn't the kind of helper that chucked the paper in the bushes like you see on the movies.... if I did that, my dad would kindly pull over, and have my get out to fix the problem.  My sister and I would also go to early morning seminary with my dad a lot growing up.  He taught seminary for a little bit and we loved waking up really early to go with him.  At that time, it was held at the church building, in one of the sections of the multipurpose room (cultural hall/gym).  We would peek over his shoulder on scripture chase day and run to our favorite seminary students and tell them which scripture it was.  Afterward, most of the kids went to the highschool not even a mile away.... so my dad would pack 8 kids (including my sister and I) into our Buick Regal and drive them up to school.  I remember laying across the laps of quite a few seminary kids until we got them to school.  Some days we would stop at the donut place just behind the church - that lady that worked there always said the same thing to us.  (she was oriental)"Oh..... you are so cute..... have some donut holes"  My sister and I got free donut holes every time we went (yet another perk to going to seminary with my dad).    Mostly we just loved spending time with him.   While he served court papers for a good chunk of our childhood/teenage years  we would often go with him if we had a day off or half day of some sort.  It was neat going to the "City" with him (Baltimore) to pick up more court papers and drop off receipts of delivery.  There were many people who knew us and saw us grow up for a few years.  He liked to try to lose us in the maze at city hall sometimes - but we always knew where we were going.  My dad was pretty good at hiding out though.  I learned a lot about my father's kindness in those trips.  There were many homeless people near where we would park downtown and my father would leave some of his lunch with them whenever he could.  Another thing we really enjoyed was going to the Orioles games.  When we first started going, they actually had a decent team, but, we're fans..... so even though the players aren't the greatest anymore..... we still enjoy going to see them play and remember the good old days when they actually won games and had Cal Ripken Jr.  (haha)   My dad always had his family as his priority.  He did a lot of service too which sometimes interfered with family time, but he always tried his hardest to be at our games, meets, choir concerts, band concerts, etc.  There are very few that he missed.  Our dad was/is our number one fan.  I remember once someone asking if my dad ever yelled at us.... you know what?  He NEVER did.  His voice could get serious sounding and his spankin's would hurt for sure.... but he would never yell.  One look from him with the following words, "I'm disappointed in you" could break a girls heart for DAYS.  He was goofy/funny/corny too which is a girls worst nightmare sometimes but always guaranteed to put a smile on your face too.   I will never forget how he would mimic the looks on our faces when we were angry or mopey and we would laugh it off and get over it.  We realized how ridiculous we looked and how much of a waste it was for us to be feeling down.  He believes in us, he taught us that we were special, important, wonderful daughters to both him and our Father in Heaven.  And....You know what?  We believe it too!!

Now... on to my best friend and her special day.  I could say so many things about Erin and how she is the most wonderful person in the world that could ever be your best friend.  Words cannot express how much she has been a blessing in my life.  I moved halfway through high school, and for anyone who has done that.... you know it stinks and it feels like your life is over and as a 15 year old, it pretty much is.  She befriended me the FIRST day of school in my new high school and we have been friends ever since.  She saved me from a very bitter last two years of high school and made it full of fun memories and good times.  I was determined to hate this new place we moved to and to not have any fun.  Boy am I glad that Erin came along.  She is an amazing person - pretty much anyone who knows her could tell you that.... I know I'm not revealing a secret or anything.  We went off to college in separate parts of the US and I honestly thought we might not be able to keep in touch as well.  I am so happy to say that despite going to different colleges, getting married at different times in our lives, and living in separate states hasn't kept us from keeping in touch.  I wish I could go out on girls nights with her more often and definitely see her more often, but I know that she is just a call away if I ever need to cry or vent about anything.  I have called on her a few times to just cry too!  She always seems to know what to say to help me feel better and strengthen my faith when I am going through trials.  I love her and her family more than they will ever know.  She graduated college (something I am still striving to do) and is an Elementary School teacher and an amazing one at that.  I know that the children she teaches will be forever grateful for her and will hold her on their top teacher list for the rest of their lives.   I don't think I could ever touch as many lives as she has being a teacher.  She is amazing, and her students are lucky to have her.  She got married to a great guy almost a year ago and he has no idea how truly lucky he is to have her in his life.  I am sure that their lives together will be wonderful and that he will learn a little more each day about how wonderful I already know she is.  Thank you Erin for always being there for me and for all the wonderful times that we've had.  I hope to see you real soon and I hope you had an AWESOME birthday yesterday!   You truly deserve the best.