To the only man I know tougher than John Wayne...

Happy Father's Day, Dad.

Back home from Desert Storm. 

Thanks for:
 - Dressing me up in camo as a little kid and teaching me to hit the center of the C on the Coke can with my BB gun from the farthest corner of the yard.
- Being with me when I found my first arrowhead.
- Giving me a good sense of direction by hiking with me as a little kid to the center of the woods, then making me get us back to the car, only re-directing me if I got way off course (there's some huge parenting metaphor buried in there, I just know it.)
- That time in high school when my friends and I got lost on Marta after an On The Bricks concert downtown and you waited patiently at Indian Creek Marta station late at night until we re-routed ourselves back from the farthest south station. You checked in constantly to make sure we were safe, but didn't make me feel bad in front of my friends. I'm pretty sure you knew we'd been drinking, and you also knew I was embarrassed and sorry, so you took us out to breakfast the next morning anyway.
- Telling me on the first day of school that if anyone messed with me, I should punch them in the nose, and you'd meet me at the principal's office and stick up for me. (I never had to.)
- Clipping and mailing me that newspaper article recently about how to dress for success.
- Sending your first text message the other day to commiserate with me over Game of Thrones.
- Knowing how to fix anything, ever, but never telling me how to fix my own problems unless I ask. For epoxying shoes, tinkering with purse clasps, and giving me old bullet casings to make jewelry out of.
- Giving me your rainbow sherbet and eating the chocolate I ordered instead at Baskin-Robbins after church every Sunday when I was little, since I always seemed to want whatever you ordered more than mine. Sorry about those Tiny Tunes ice cream bars. That wasn't an even trade.
- Dressing up like Quail Man once to get a laugh out of me.
- Loving my dog as much as I do, and caring for him during many Pitchfork, SXSW, and Hopscotch fest trips.
- Trading records back and forth with me.
- Pulling me around on a cookie sheet with a string tied to it as a make-shift sled that time when I was tiny and it snowed.
- Teaching me how to budget money, though I know I'll never convince you I can :)
- Giving me the best example of a man and a dad I could ever have.

For having a great sense of humor. Check out that fake ponytail ball cap!