Reevaluation

I just reread my blogpost entitled "Joy". I hate that I have focused on what my dad has missed. Why can't I focus on what he did while he was here with us? Well...here it goes:

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I don't know much about his life...but, I do know that he loved his childhood. He spent a lot of time with his grandparents. His grandmother who he called, Ging, was apparently an amazing cook, as was his mother. Ging and Grandad lived in an incredible house in Clarksville. I have been there and it is truly an amazing house. Wrap around porches have never been so appealing. It's beautiful and it has been named an historic landmark. My dad loved spending summers there with his sister, Bettye, brother, Fletcher, and cousins, Beth and Jane--and I'm sure a few others. Aunt Bettye, Uncle Fletcher, Beth, and Jane all tell amazing stories of those times. I live for those stories. There's a favorite story of mine that involves eating rotten Easter eggs and getting sick! :)

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I'm going to skip ahead to the last 30 years. Uncle Fletcher, Dad's brother, was getting married. Dad was apart of it, obviously. My mom's friend was the bride. So my parents met and were married 3 months later, I believe is how the story goes. November 3rd, 1978, a wedding was had and many attended. They said "I do" and spent 27 years together. Almost 10 years after they were married, they had me! What a blessing! *rolls eyes* ;) Frank and Connie became parents. They loved it and still do. I was a Daddy's girl with a best friend as a Mom. What a team!

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My dad went through several different job, which is where I get it from. He spent a lot of time in the food service industry. Cooking for KFC and Izzy's, owning The Spot & The Hop Drive-In, and several other places. Owning The Hop Drive-In was the best 6 years of our lives. We worked together as a family serving people, our favorite past-time.

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He always had great advice too: Follow your heart. Don't forget Whose you are. Love. Laugh at yourself. Dad wanted me to be a teacher and personally I can't think of anything I wouldn't want to do more. I guess he figured that I'm good with kids and am able to relate to them easily. I'm a kid at heart after all. And I love helping people, especially people in need.

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I am so blessed to have a man who loved me. Not only a father, but a Daddy. I love you, Daddy, and I miss you.