Happy Birthday Dad!

On this day in 1954, my dad, who according to my grandma was the "easiest to have but hardest to raise," was born. My dad's a coach who's known for his corny jokes and dancing on the 50 yard line after a victory. His most recent joke (thanks to Donny) is: What did the thermometer say to the graduated cylinder? - You may be graduated, but I have more degrees.

As you can see in my previous post, I just returned from a trip to visit my dad. The last time I spent a week with him was immediately following my graduation from ACU. We drove with my stepmom from Abilene to Nashville. As a matter of fact, as we were driving through Hope, Arkansas (home of Bill Clinton), we heard that Saddam Hussein had been captured.

Here are just a few of the memories I have of my dad:

• Going to all of his baseball, football, and basketball games growing up
• Being the 'batgirl' for his baseball games
• Waiting at the field house after football games and listening to the radio to hear the highlights of his game
• Getting reprimanded for hurting a little boy (if you know what I mean) for not letting me off of the slide in Kindergarten
• Being told that the only time you hurt a boy like that is if they are trying to rob or hurt you
• Going to the Texas Rangers Game and walking behind President Bush when he owned the Rangers
• Anticipating him coming home from practice with candy for Brette and me
• Teaching me how to properly dribble and shoot a basketball
• Teaching me how to hit and catch a baseball and softball
• Being the guinea pig for any new jokes he received
• Being told to jump in the back of the truck on my birthday only to find a brand-new bicycle there

Now that I look at the list...almost everything has to do with sports. I guess that's what happens when your dad is a coach. I loved every minute of it! I guess that's why I'm dating a coach. They do say you marry people like your dad....