my dad is the king of dads. i know that most girls think that about their dads when they're growing up. most little girls think that their dad is the smartest man on earth, the strongest, the kindest, the most wise. it just so happens that i'm not a little girl anymore (well depends on who you ask hehe) and i still think those things, and even more so being that i've met plenty of people on my twenty-five years on this planet i happen to know that those thoughts are indeed facts.
may third was my dad's seventieth birthday. 70th! you wouldn't know it if no one had told you, my dad looks fourty. i'm not just being kind here, he really does. not a wrinkle in sight and he works out more than the average person. my dad is the walking fountain of youth, all of those years watching him make his own vitamins, eating the healthiest and weirdest food, and drinking green shakes before they were trendy to drink really paid off. my dad was green before it even a thing. when i was little i used to hide from him when i was sick because i knew that being sick meant taking a garlic pill or worse, being forced to eat raw garlic. flax seed. slippery oils on a spoon. you name it. but now i'm so grateful because i'm so healthy! (knock on wood) and i do the same for cohen now. my friends go to my dad for natural health advice all the time, and you always learn something new from him when it comes to healing and skincare. he's like my own personal guru that i don't use as much because i like to pretend i know it all but definitely going to start using more because i really don't. shhh.
my dad has done so much in his life! he's had just about every job available, had a book published that is still used in the norfolk school system today, is a vietnam veteran, saved so many lives as a fire chief, etc. its so crazy to think about all the things that he's seen. sometimes i try to think about his time living in the village in the 70s (or maybe it was 60s) and i'm like whoa dad, i just know you were a beatnik. his life would seriously make the best memoir.
my dad has a craaazy book collection, and he's read them all. like he knows history. real history not the watered down stuff you learn in public schools but the stuff that no one hardly knows except for professors. the real (controversal)facts and reasons behind the most documented events and times. i don't understand how someone can know so much. and religion? my dad is a philosopher, he just does so much research about religions he could teach a class. growing up he used to read me those zen comic books before bed and i'd learn so much, i was pretty deep as a kid thanks to him.
he's always worked so hard, making sure that my mom could stay home with us, that we never had to go without. i don't remember ever truly needing as a kid. i know we didn't have a lot of money but i wouldn't have known it. he's always been there for me, like when i told him i was pregnant with cohen and i'm sure most dads would explode at the thought of an unwed daughter having a child at 18, he was totally cool (to my face at least ;) and welcomed us both into his home, kept me on his insurance, and paid for my food and maternity clothes when i had to stop working towards the end. even after cohen was born and dan and i weren't quite on the same page we are now, he let us stay there and i didn't have to pay rent. so i'm just really grateful for him. i know my mom has credit for this as well, but this isn't her birthday post so that'll come at a later time ;)
may fourth was my dad's birthday party. i'm across the world but thanks to technology and my cousins ipad i was able to still be there and be on facetime while we sang happy birthday, and opened gifts and talked with family. i was so nice to feel i was part of it all, but a little sad because i wasnt physically there. i could go on and on but the point is i just really love my dad, not only do i love him but i admire him, and more importantly i actually like him a lot, as a person.
