I am grateful for my Dad.

I am grateful that I have so many great memories:

• sitting on his lap while we drove down a country road outside of Haven, me doing the steering while he did the pedals
• smells of gas station when he walked in the door
• riding bikes with Dad and Angela when he and Mom lived on Severance
• flying high above south central Kansas, feeling safe while looking at all the field “carpets” below
• watching him with my little girls as a first time grandpa
• always knowing he would give me some money to walk to the Kwik Shop with Lori, David, Kim, and Leroy during church business meetings
• lots of windshields, lots of dipsticks, lots of tire testers, lots of vacuuming, lots of moving the oil display outside and back inside at the end of the day, and never having to “unplug” the air hose – he did that for me
• his “one-liners” and jokes
• calling Mom “Helen,” and then hearing, “Oh, DELmar!” followed by her sticking out her tongue at him
• after bedtime darkness when Dad would finally come home from work, and Mom would let me sit at the kitchen table with him and share a bowl of Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, just the two of us
• being allowed to sit in a car while he put it up on the lift
• going through horrible podiatry appointments and a couple of toe surgeries but feeling very loved because Dad was with me through it all
• cracks in his fingers that were perpetually black from the hard work on cars all the day long
• feeling very proud when anyone knew/knows my Dad – his stellar reputation in Haven and then in Hutchinson follows him
• watching his worried face as I put both he and Mom through several traumatic events, beginning at age 15 – and always knowing he loved me anyway…

I am grateful that I know my Dad loves me.

I am grateful to have spent a little bit of time with him yesterday.

I am grateful he goes to my KC church.

I am grateful that we share our faith.

And I am grateful that he is MY dad.