This guy

There was this guy who used to slam on the brakes, when no one was stopping in front of him, and throw his arm across me and say "did you see that?" just for fun. He would start laughing hard, I mean really hard until we were all laughing with our bellies jumping without knowing what we were laughing at - he would tell us it was this funny word, and keep laughing. By then we had tears in our eyes when he would finally say it - Peanut. Music was important to us, from my own song he wrote me "Sarah Sue, I love you" to putting scripture to music so we would memorize it. He would say pretty embarrassing things loudly out the window of the car when he dropped me off at school as a 4th grader with a huge grin on his face as I rushed hurridely to the class so know one would associate me with that guy. He took me on walks and would tell me stories about the great leaders in christian history, I find myself having Susanna Wesley moments at my own house. Vacations with him were teachable moments - we saw every battlefield this side of the mississippi. We sang together a lot. He taught me how to drive, because mom couldn't handle the anxiety. And he helped me out with all of my wrecks that I had in just a few years from 17-22. He held me and let me cry the night I got my heart broken for the first time. He told me I was beautiful while walking down the aisle at my wedding rehersal and I had to tell him he couldn't do that on the actual day, or I would be in tears. Bad Sunday in the hospital one of my few memories are of him walking in the room and me crying, not because I was scaired of what was happening to me, but because he was there and I knew because of that I would be ok. Even though there were five of us, he made me feel special. He tolerates my obsessive need to take family pictures. He loves my kids a lot. He sacrifices time with his wife because he knows how much I need her to come visit and help me. He's an all around great guy.

He's always been my safe place to land. And I'm so glad to have him as my dad.