Today my Dad turns 80 years old! He is a walking miracle. If you have been friends with me for very long, you know that 11 years ago he nearly died. He spent 45 days in ICU, days and days on a ventilator, and family was brought in to tell him goodbye. But God wasn’t finished with him yet. And every day since then we consider a bonus day with him. So today I want to celebrate him and all the things he is for our family.

This man has 3 daughters, 7 granddaughters (1 grandson and 3 bonus grandsons) and 2 great granddaughters and 2 great grandsons. He is literally surrounded by estrogen!!! And he is the BEST girl dad ever.

Some of my favorite memories of my dad include:

He came to EVERY single cheerleading event for me. EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. During my senior year, my mom was struggling with crippling depression and she couldn’t make every game, but my Dad did. As an adult, I realize how boring this must have been for him, especially without his better half to make small talk with in the stands. My squad loved him. Starting in middle school, he made quite a name for himself. We had this super dorky cheer we learned at cheer camp, “Look up in the sky it’s a UFO and it’s coming down on you and it’s taking control…” I mean what in the world does a UFO have to do with football? My dad knew all of the motions. Times were simpler back then and all we wanted was for our parents to take us to QuikTrip after the game. My Dad would guarantee a QuikTrip run if we did the UFO cheer. And he stood up there and did it with us. At first I was embarrassed, but then I saw how much fun my friends had with it and now I love the memory!

My Dad is Mr. Fix It. He has helped me more times than I care to remember. My first husband was not handy around the house and so my Dad stepped up and came over to help all the time. We used to joke that I was his apprentice. I was trying to learn all I could from him in case something happened to him and I didn’t have my handyman. I recall being in your garage with my dad who was greasing the garage door tracks. He had noticed it was loud and told me he would fix it. I stayed out there with him to learn how he was doing it. He still to this day looks after everyone’s tires! He still looks at my own girls’ tires and will tell me when they are getting close to needing new tires. Side note, I once remember my brother in law, Scott, telling Ali that she needed air in her tires. I was a little envious that she had married her father. All these years later and I have married my dad. Jay does all of these same things for my girls!! And I know it makes my dad feel good.

My Dad has a special relationship with his only biological grandson and namesake, Luke. It’s fun to watch him have the boy he never had. They spend many hours on the golf course together. And recently the three of us have become golfing buddies. This is a memory I will cherish forever.

Being surrounded by all these women has made him a little like us. He is hard of hearing until we are telling secrets and magically he has super sonic hearing. Remember back in the day when 90210 and Melrose Place were all the rage? I was in college and we had watch parties. My sister was a new graduate and he would go to watch parties with her and her friends. He recently attended my friend’s needlepoint store soft opening with flowers in hand. I think he was the only male to walk thru the doors that day.

My dad has been a servant over the years. He spent more years than I can count working in the church nursery rocking the babies. He now volunteers for Jolly Citizens at his church. As I’m typing I am looking out my window at a foot of snow. I promise you if I asked him to come shovel my driveway he would do it. (Don’t worry I wouldn’t do that to him, but he would be willing). He took great care of his own mom who lived to be 100. Always completing her honey do tasks. He moved her to Tulsa when the time came and visited her regularly and made sure she had all the important things like ice cream and wine. His best friend passed away a few weeks ago, but Dad was always faithful to call him daily and visit him at least once a week, if not more.

He prays with my mom every morning over their family. I am so blessed and lucky to have the best dad in the world. Happy birthday, Paki. We all love you big and hope we get 20 more years with you!