Thought I'd take moment out of every week or so to get serious and introduce some of the best people in my life, because um, it's my blog and you can suck it.
We're gonna start off with the James H. himself, father extraordinaire. Starting with him, because people don't always hear about him due to mom stealing all his attention, what with her medical issues and violent escapades at work, drunken Dilantin speech while taking rat protein injections, and being cute and all (how dare she!).
I'm lucky in that I have a really rockin' dad who wears overalls everyday (except for two hours on Sunday.) This is a man that if he even detects a slight sign of unhappiness in your voice or email, will immediately begin sending texts and emails. Whether you are actually unhappy or not. Whether you asked for the texts and calls or not. Whether you want them or not. And I'm not just talking about me, his daughter. He is the rock for some many people in our lives. I remember watching my late grandfather (who'll get his own blog another week) constantly counseling couples and individuals in the den when I was growing up. I always thought it was so amazing that people genuinely sought him out for advice and healing o' the heart, and now I've seen the same thing follow through with my dad. He's there for anyone, any time, any day. I think every family has their own strengths to offer people, and my parents definitely have the gift of taking care of others and have raised my brother and moi to try to do the same. There's been a lot of hardship and heartache for people around us, and my parents will not even hesitate to drop everything they are doing to be there at your side. I'm talking fly across the country, whatever. I come from real good people. So, really, you should be thankful for knowing me, because they come with the package. I'll send my address for thank you cards.
But that's not to say he's all boring and sappy and stuff. Stop by our house sometime and get a little crazy in your life. Ca-razy.
He keeps it real. I'll send him pictures of cakes I bake for fun, and he'll send me back an unsolicited critique. But this is good, see, because he doesn't play around with being fake. You want an honest opinion on your outfit or want to know if your band is good? -- He'll shoot it to you real-real like. If you come up in our house and try to ask for a vegetarian meal, he's going to sit your happy arse down and start a little debate with you while he's cooking you up a nice big portion of southern chicken fried steak.* He has an opinion and he's gonna give it to you.
* He's the best cook in town. That is just fact. No one will deny it. It's great to go home because you can just casually mention creme brulee and suddenly 30 minutes later he's whipped one up.
Things I've learned from him: That it's really important to humble yourself enough to be there for others and offer your heart, because it isn't always about you.
Things you may not know about him:
-- He has a gorgeous voice and crazy perfect pitch. He was also the star of the choir growing up (didn't hurt to have my musical Grandma rearing him)
-- He once flung gummy bears at a restaurant for 15 minutes straight at a couple across the way, in an effort to entertain two young H. kids
-- He used to breed Gouldian finches
-- He worships my mom. Like, it is wrong how well he treats her. That woman has. it. made.
One of my fondest memories: For my birthday every year, he would write me a long rhyming poem in the card. Like, awesome, poems. I think one poem compared me to toilet paper. It was awesome.
Posts
