Daddy

I meant to do this yesterday, but I was entirely too busy, so I am doing it a day late. Just for the record. Days like this kind of annoy me. I mean why do we need to dedicate just one day to showing our daddies how much they mean to us? Shouldn't we do that everyday? It's the same way with Mother's Day, Valentine's Day, and Grandparent's Day. It's quite ridiculous actually.

Anyway, my Daddy is amazing, and I love him so very much. We don't always see eye to eye, and we argue quite a bit, but that doesn't matter. If you were to see this guy walking down a dark ally at night, you would probably turn around and walk the other way; he's a pretty intimidating guy. But once you break through the rough outer shell, he is a big softy. My little sister pulls the Daddy face all the time to get what she wants, and he gives in. I can't pull the Daddy Face anymore, I have lost my cuteness. This picture has a name, and it's a quite debatable name. This picture has forever and always been "Baby's First Tractor Ride", however, it's not a tractor, it's a lawn mower, so the name is under current debate. Mom is insistent upon not changing the name. My Mom tells me stories all the time about my father's reactions to me when I was born. My personal favorite is, "Put her back, she ain't done yet." You see, my head was VERY cone shaped when I was born, which concerned my strange father. My parents always say that they are surprised that they even wanted more kids after I was born. I was a terrible baby. At the time, Momma was working full time as a pharmacist, and Daddy was working full time as a Battalion Fire Chief in Millard. Mom says that one night while Dad was on duty I cried for so long that she almost took me to the ER.

My Daddy is so firm in his faith. He stayed so firm to the Lord when he went through the major trial of getting hired as Fire Chief and taking on a high demand job and then getting "laid off" from that same job less than 18 months later. There were so many late night meetings, phone calls, and conversations. We thought Dad's job would be less stressful as Fire Chief, but we were wrong. My Daddy had to put up with so much, and he never buckled under pressure. I'm not allowed to talk about what happened with the "lay off", but just know that my Dad did the right thing. He fought hard for the right thing. The "lay off" was not easy on my family, it was very hard. But my Dad always told us that God has a plan for us, and that He would take care of us. Daddy was right. A little over two weeks after the city council voting in favor of eliminating the position of Fire Chief, the Omaha Fire Department contacted us offering Daddy his job back. It was such a huge blessing. Shortly after we moved back, Daddy received an award presented by the Omaha Fire Chief. It was such an honor for him, he worked hard for it. My Dad's job right now doesn't have an official title. It's a position specifically designed for him. I know that he is in charge of making water supply plans and he is in charge of coordinating new ideas for improving equipment and trucks. He may not be the best at English, but my father is VERY smart when it comes to firefighting stuff. His job requires many long phone calls and meetings, but he enjoys it. I'm sure he would like to be home more often, but when you have to drive a 2 hour round trip to work, you have to get as much out of each trip as possible.

My Daddy is amazing. He has always been there for me, leading me in the right direction and making sure that I don't fall out of line. He encourages me to grow up to be a godly woman. He expects a lot from me, so  he is very strict. Some people say that my parents are Nazis, and sometimes it seems like they are, but they just want what's best for me. I definitely would not still have my 4.0 GPA if it wasn't for their strict rules, and I would probably have gotten in a lot of trouble. Kids need firm rules and leadership like this, otherwise they wander astray. I love my Daddy to the moon and back.... even though he won't shave that disgusting mustache off of his face.