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Happy Birthday, Dad

07/07/14 | birthday, family

Kelly Kinky Boots

Dear Dad,

Happy Birthday! I am sad I had to leave yesterday and did not get a proper chance to celebrate your big day so here is a letter instead!  I debated writing this post and then once I did whether or not I should publish it because you are not into this whole “blogging thing”.  I do listen and I  know you don’t love how much information I put out there on the world wide web.  For this reason I purposely had another post scheduled for today, instead of one devoted to you like I did for Mom’s birthday,  but something changed my mind.

Saturday night when we were  watching Kevin Costner’s 3 Days to Kill one scene really struck a cord.   “What kind of kid doesn’t know how to ride a bike?” asks Ethan.  His daughter Zooey replies, “The kind of kid who doesn’t have a father to teach her.”  While predictable, Dad, it made me look at you with renewed admiration.

Dad, thank you for being around when I was little and teaching me life long skills, like how to ride a bike, how to throw a baseball, and how to gargle Scope without swallowing the entire mouthful.  Thank you for teaching me to not sweat the small stuff (although I am still working on that one) and sometimes it is the little things you’ve taught me as an adult, like the difference between a Phillips Head and a Flat Head screw driver and why stud finders are important, that make a difference.

You love the Mark Twain quote (although I am not sure you would recall that it was Twain or the ages exactly) that reads, “When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished by how much he’d learned in seven years.”  Well Dad, I have always thought you were the smartest man I know and I do not think that will change any time soon.  You were there every step of the way, especially when it came to swimming:

Kelly and Dad - Swimming

Swimming is the biggest thing I have to thank you for, Dad, and it has been such a huge part of my life since I can remember.  Not only did you teach me this basic life skill, but you passed along your love for the sport.  You understood the importance of a tenth of a second without anyone having to explain the significance, because you did it first.  You were an All-American swimmer and that made you the best cheerleader around, and “around” certainly took us to a lot of places. I am positive neither of us have any interest in ever returning to Crawfordsville, Indiana, but I really appreciate you spending the week with me there just so I could swim ten, minute long races.  I know with absolutely certainty that swimming is a bond we will always have and our laps together yesterday in Cape Cod just go to show.

We both know I talk to Mom every day and while we may not talk for a week,  suddenly you will send me an email, like this one from February, out of the blue and with no caption necessary.

 

This email made me laugh out loud at my desk and was just a reminder that you were thinking of me and that you love me. Well Dad, I love you right back.  I know you are pretty low-key about your birthday and repeatedly tell me that you do not want any presents, and as I have mentioned, you are impossible to buy for, so here is a piece of Sparkles and Shoes dedicated solely to you.

 

Thanks for being a great Dad, thanks for being MY Dad, and Happy Birthday!
I love you and I hope you have a wonderful day!
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Comments

  1. Caroline L. says

    July 7, 2014 at 8:02 pm

    such a sweet birthday post 🙂 i’m sure he’ll love it!! happy birthday to papa sparkles & shoes 🙂

  2. Samantha Bender says

    July 7, 2014 at 7:29 am

    This is so sweet! I think that sometimes you just need to show people how much you love them, even if it’s in ways that are a little unconventional to them. We all have different ways of saying I love you, and this is one of them.

Hi, I am Kelly and welcome to Sparkles and Shoes, a fashion, travel, and lifestyle blog.  I am a New York City girl at heart but I moved to London in the Spring of 2018!

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