My Dad

Did I ever tell you that my dad is the coolest? I mean really, legitimately, the coolest. Like how every morning when I wake up, I call my Dad and we just chat for a while while we get ready for work. (I never even realized that you can use while while in a sentence, but you can!) Today while I was making a big decision, he just let me talk it out with him and then helped me be brave and decisive.

Sometimes my Dad says really funny things. In the summer when we play with water he says "My mom says I can't get wet!" When I turn into bossy Liz he says, "You're not the boss of me." When I need to cry, he just smooths my hair and lets me cry it out. When I  start stressing about things that haven't even happened yet, he tells me, "You can keep your dang jack!" and when I get wound up about things that don't matter, he reminds me, "Don't sweat the small stuff, and it's all small stuff."

I remember the time my dad sat me down in junior high and told me it was time to think about the quality of my friends (he was right). The time he and my cousin talked to me about that CD I bought and helped me decide to get rid of it. The time he showed me how to drive a four wheeler. The time he crashed a four wheeler into the back of ours because he was looking at that moose up on the mountain. The time when he used that bag of cans to keep that other moose from charging at us. The way he lets me just sit in the car and talk his ear off all the way to St. George and sometimes all the way back. The way he buys a Fast Break every time he goes to Maverick, and will always come down to see me when I'm feeling lonely. 

And just to make sure we end this with a song lyric or something profound, I give to you, in honor of my Dad, the words of Yellowcard

Father I will always be that same [girl] that stood by the sea 

and watched you tower over me.

Now I'm older I wanna be 

the same as you.