Father's Day/Forty Years

My dad, Joseph Bell Rawlings. He was, without a doubt, the best dad ever. (No, I am not biased.) He took me fishing, read me bedtime stories (Justin Morgan Had a Horse was our favorite) and let me walk the golf course with him, not so I could caddy or play along, but so I could chase the bunnies that would come out from the woods along the edges of the fairways in the late afternoon. He made me do chores and save part of my allowance, he praised me with abandon and corrected me gently, punished me in proportion to the level of my bad behavior and loved me profoundly. He had a wicked sense of humor and he was easy on the eyes. I adored him. I still do.

Happy Father's Day, Daddy. I miss you.

Besides being Father's Day it also happens to be the 40th Anniversary of my marriage to DH, pictured above. Good grief, we really were young once....Anyway, that is us, cutting our cake. I am a lucky woman. My DH has stuck with me through it all---dirty diapers, college tuitions, teaching the kids to drive, burned dinners, sometimes no clean underwear or socks, my grumpy mornings (and noon-times and evenings and even, sometimes, while I sleep), some hurtful things said in the heat of anger that I would give anything to be able to take back and lots of good and great times. We raised three children of whom we are exceedingly proud. DH took the business he bought from his father and nurtured it and has run it well, to the benefit of our employees and ourselves and now is passing it on to our son, who will, I know, follow his father's fine example. We built a home and a family and a life. We are NOT done yet! Here's to my DH!

Thanks for 40 years of life, but I will not thank you for all the puns. Those, honey, I could do without.
I love you.