Happy Birthday Dad!

Today is my dear old Dad's birthday. Hard to believe, but he is 69 today. He has always owned his age fairly well, though no one has ever believed he is as old as the numbers say. We have kept him young I guess. We are all getting together tomorrow night as a family to celebrate.

All my life I remember that he was my father first, but he was also always my friend. I call my Dad just to chat sometimes - and I am grateful I have that kind of relationship with both of my parents actually. He is a true optimist and delights in the simple pleasures of life (like Diet Pepsi right out of the can) and lives fully that adage of "the key to happiness isn't getting what you want, it is wanting what you already have". I hope we have many more birthdays ahead of us to celebrate.

Here is a picture of us when I was little, on a random Christmas morning:


And on my wedding day:

(photo by Heather Cook Elliott)

Happy Birthday Dad!