Happy Birthday, Dad!!

Today is my dad's 59th birthday and I wanted to give him a proper (and punctual) shout out!

Basically, I have the best dad ever. My dad has always been super involved in everything that my siblings and I have done. In elementary school he would MC the school talent shows. He often would coach everyone's baseball and softball teams (except for me because I was far more interested in collecting Barbies than playing team sports). In middle school he never missed a single screechy orchestra concert.
In high school he was always super involved in different committees. For example, (much to my dismay back then) he and my mom were chaperons on my choir trip. Most of the parental chaperoned were quiet and "behind the scenes" where my dad was out being chummy with all the kids, performing songs that he wrote to my peers (I could have died!) and more. My senior year he was on our graduation party committee. He went to every single cross country meet (except for one- and he was frustrated that he couldn't make it.) He made me lunch all through high school and would decorate my lunch bags on the days I had a XC meet. The lunch bags were known as Spirit Bags and would be read by all of my friends.

My dad has always been very selfless in our family. For example, my high school was one mile away- very walkable. Dad worked in Bellevue, which was a twenty minute drive from our house at LEAST. However, when I got my drivers license my dad would take the bus and bike to work so I could have a car to drive up the street to school. He happily sat through many mall experiences and chauffeured me and my friends around on weekend nights where he would probably rather be at home.
When I was a kid I never realized how much more involved my dad was in my life compared to other kids. I just assumed that all dads were like mine. Now I can see how special my dad is and how lucky I am to have him :)
My dad is always up for fun and a laugh. Every family vacation is filled with taking gag pictures, such as this one:

In my sister's wedding my dad insisted on having a choreographed daddy/daughter dance that included "the Elaine" and most of Napoleon Dynamite's dance moves. Dad loves to make home videos and has a talent for making them entertaining to all. The first catchphrase that comes to my mind when I think of my dad is anytime someone asks,"Hey did you get a haircut? He ALWAYS replies, "No...I got them ALL cut!"

So Happy Birthday, Dad! Thanks for being the goofy, quirky, hard working lovable guy that you are.

*FYI- my mom has also always been super involved in my life too and did lots of stuff mentioned above. I just focused on dad because it was his birthday. I didn't want to imply that he did it all by himself :D