Ode to Bay

My Daddy rocks. Don't be jealous. He is just the best. He just is. Period.

Living here, near him, near a family member is something that we have never had the chance to do before. Most military families never get the opportunity to be close to "kin." We are so spoiled now, though. He is a part of our daily lives, and it. is. so. awesome.

He has always been a particularly patient man. I never remember him getting really mad at me or Lucas, unless we really messed up. And that was never until we were unruly teenagers. He is very laid back and easy going. And I am a Daddy's girl from the word GO. Momma and I are the best of friends, but there is something about a little girl and her Daddy, right?

Now, if Lucas were here and able to type his 2 cents worth, he was start saying that I was so spoiled and I whined to get my way. But he is not here. And this is my blog, so I can say what I want to, so I was not spoiled! (Who am I kidding, anyway?)

My Daddy is the man who once flew to Germany for 36 hours because I did not want to fly to Atlanta alone. He even fed me my supper on the plane because I was hiding a sweet little Westie under my blanket. One time, we were leaving a restaurant, and I wanted a pink gumball. The man spent tons of money trying to get me a pink one. We finally left in defeat. But the next day when he came home from work, he had a small blue jewelry box in his hand. I opened it, and there it was - a pink gumball. When I was 4, he was going to have to miss my ballet recital. So he came to the dress rehearsal instead. And even though it was not the real thing, he still brought me roses. And I may have mentioned this before, but he was also out of town on my 16th birthday. But I will never forget sitting in my English class and having a telegram delivered to me wishing me a happy birthday. That is the one and only time I ever got a telegram. I am sure that Lucas has many memories, too. His would be a little different and focus on fishing trips or Daddy's being the Boy Scout Leader until Lucas got Eagle or trips to the gun range, but I am certain he has lots of memories of his patient and very involved father, too.

Now his patience and sweetness is being showered on another generation. When I am ready to scream and call the gypsies to take my children away, he is still smiling and still trying to appease them.

One time we were at an ice cream place.

Jessa wanted a cone.

He got her a cone.

She then wanted a cup.

He went and got her a cup.

She changed her mind and wanted a cone.

He scooped it back into the cone.

He got more spoons.
He got more napkins.
He never stopped grinning.

He is Jessa's best customer at her diner:

He sits on the porch and blows bubbles with little Spencer:

He sat at the kids table at the mall for lunch:

He rode the train to St. Louis with me, my children, my friends, and my friends' children to deliver us to the Cardinals Game, only to turn around and ride the train right back home for work:

If David is out of town, he picks Jessa up from ballet and drives her to church for Awana every week. Seriously, we could not do it all without his help! He even painted a cool sign for me to use at Awana:

And last week, when we were short-handed at Awana, he stuck around after dropping Jessa off. And he was out puppeteer. Yep, my Daddy, a general in the army, crouched down on the floor and made cute little voices for the Cubbies Puppet Show.

I was all choked up because he does not even question. He just does what we want or need him to do. The man has booster seats in his van. And several ladies at the church were in awe of him, too. They all told me, "You are so blessed." And believe me, I know it. We are all blessed to have such a patient Daddy/Bay in the family!

See, I told you. He is the best.