It’s a small memory, dad
Of just me and you
It’s a small memory, dad
But this is for you
The kitchen calendar from my school project
It kept flipping, why wouldn’t someone tell it to stop?
Mom always recognized that time is precious
Precious like the “One to Rule Them All” in Lord of the Rings
You taught me more than my k-12 years
About dedication and hard work
At that age, I often wanted to sit down and quit
But you helped me stick with my free throws, and so much more
To recognize opportunities and approach challenges
That day, shooting hoops at the church gym, I didn’t think about challenges
I didn’t think about time
Swish.
Thank you for pushing me
Like a swing, not too hard but just enough to get me moving
If not for you, I still wouldn’t know how to ride a bike
Or made it around to playing the high school sport I loved
Thank you for washing my car
That thing sure gets mucked up fast
And isn’t that funny?
Just like my Honda Civic, life gets mucky
Nothing white stays white
And that’s okay
No calendar, not even the homemade kind, stops flipping
And that’s okay too
As long as I have my dad to help me fix it
Dad,
I’m sure you’ll stumble across this blog because you always support me. Adolescence tends to blind people to what’s really going on around them, but when I think back to things that seemed so simple: you taking me out to practice my tennis serve even though it had to be really boring to return balls for hours, bringing me to the church gym to help me practice for my free-throw contest, giving me the inspiration to go out and self-publish my own books… You’re the best. The world might be a challenging and uncertain place, but you’ve always been by my side to tackle things with me and pave the way when they’re unclear.
Happy birthday and I love you,
Lindsey
