To the best Dad

My parents like to take all of their grand-kids and have sleepovers at their house once a week. THEY LIKE TO, People. As in, I get phone calls asking what's wrong with me, and why I don't want my kids to have fun if there's a week we can't make it happen. On our end, this is amazing, as we get to go out and have dinner and stuff...or sometimes we just lay on the couch and watch TV. WHATEVER WE WANT ON TV. Although it usually takes a while to find what we want to watch, because there is so much Sesame Street on our Netflix queue. And Daniel the Tiger, and Wild Kratts, and Jake & the Neverland Pirates...you get the picture.

But that's not why I have the best dad. I mean, that's a pretty great reason (and my mom should be included in there too, although she doesn't usually make the phone calls asking what's wrong with me) but really the whole overnight-one-day-a-week thing has only been going on for about 4 years. I have at least...um...ok, I'm not going to to into how many other years I need to account for. I'll summarize them for you:

He rocked a 1980's mustache like it's no one's business

Movie night, 1980's style

He always kept a very close eye on us growing up

You: "Katie, you look so young!" Me: "Thanks!"

He climbed the highest mountain with us...or the top of Mayan ruins

Top of the Mayan Ruins

He shows us every day how important it is to take care of yourself. He started doing triathlons in his 50's. He does an annual JDRF bike ride. My parents have boxes of racquetball trophies in their house. And this year we did a family 5K.

Dad doing a Tri

He made sure we each grew up with a strong work ethic, and all of us started working part-time jobs as soon as we were old enough.

He made going on vacation a priority. Some of our best family memories are during vacations.

• Dad rolling down the window as an ostrich was coming right at me in a drive-thru zoo in Florida
• Also in Florida, getting lost on Drug Runner's Road (if that wasn't the official name, it should have been)
• Going to a Chicago Bulls game when Michael Jordan was playing
• Again in Florida (it was a pretty epic vacation) Dad renting a catamaran and splashing the water to make me think a shark was coming at me
• Renting lake cabins so we could all spend a few days hanging out
• Trips to Adventureland
• My first international experience--The Bahamas
• Starting to take trips that included friends--like Mexico and Vegas
• The Omaha Royals game, which I'm not going to discuss to protect the innocent. I just want to taunt them a little by bringing it up

He coached or attended all of our activities. My elementary softball (hence the still-current chant, "Kate, Kate the Rusty Gate). My brother and sister's soccer and softball. My National Honor Society stuff (I may have taken a different path than the athletic route).

Those are all little, day to day things that are part of being a family that sometimes get missed. Family vacations are important. Softball games are important. Doing stuff together is important.

Then there are the big things:

Being there for me after boyfriend break-ups.

Taking care of neighborhood bullies.

Rushing to the hospital when I delivered G five weeks early, and in record time (20 minutes after I got to the hospital, that may be another story though) to make sure we were okay (we were).

Walking me down the aisle, twice...both times to the same guy though. I just really like weddings.

My first day at college.

Every time he steps up to help one of his kids, or their spouses, or his grand-kids...which is all the time.

First day at ISU. I know, I made bangs look good.

Being a Dad is not just doing the Little Things, or being there for the Big Things. It's being there for All The Things. And that, my friends, is why I have the Best Dad. 

Just to make this a little bit longer, and drive home my point a little more, I'm re-posting what my sister posted on his last day of radiation treatment, Feb. 6, 2014:

My dad’s better than your dad, and I can prove it.
To outsiders he is the dashing Store Director whom eats twigs and berries, works out daily, raises endless amounts of money for Juvenile Diabetes, and leaps tall buildings with a single bound. All of which may be true; however, the tall buildings could just be the plastic houses his grand-kids play in. It’s tall to them! He taught me to play soccer, baseball, basketball, football (yes football,), and Nintendo. Every trophy I have is because of something he taught me, including the two trophies for sacking groceries!

However, the things most don’t know about and can’t see make him far better. In college, my ovary exploded and I spent quality time in the ICU. As I laid there, breathing thru the mask and arguing with nurses about what’s really going to help me manage; all I wanted was a dark chocolate iced long john. Dad to the rescue! Within an hour I had one. That long john did what morphine, oxygen masks, and blood transfusions could not. My mom sat there with me laughing as she told me there were no dark chocolate iced long johns. There was only maple, gross! So, my dad scrapped all the icing off the long john and re-iced it in dark chocolate. It’s the little things that make him amazing.

Today, my dad gets his last radiation treatment. So, I wanted to take a moment to express how proud and grateful I am of the man who has been there for me my entire life. Even if he does say that my siblings are higher on the list because I haven’t given him grand-kids yet.