Happy Fathers Day, Dad

IMAGE : THE MOTHER LOAD | Happy Father's Day, Dad

Happy Father's Day to this guy.

He's my Dad. He's pretty cool, as you can see. And he plays the sax like a boss which automatically makes him even cooler.

He lives a little far away so I don't get to see him whenever I want but I'm okay with that because it has been that way for ages. It would be nice to live nearer to each other but there's always Skype which occasionally provides us with endless entertainment as we all try and get our cameras and microphones to work properly. "You're frozen" and "Can you hear me?" always feature in the dialogue somewhere during our conversations. 

Here are some things about my Dad that make him special:

He's pretty quiet but he can be really cheeky in his own quiet way. Suddenly, without a word of warning, you're being tickled within as inch of your life. He loves a joke and he tells them in that really old fashioned, long form storytelling way. The punch line is worth the wait (but not always - sorry, Dad).

Music is his thing. He's a bit of a genius really and thankfully people have paid him to be a musical guy all his life which is great because I can't even imagine what he would have done if not for music (!). He plays music all the time, even when there is no instrument in sight. If you look at his fingers during a conversation, they're always tapping out a tune in his head. He's listening, but he's still playing and that's quite a special skill!

My Dad likes cars and I think I inherited that particular interest from him too. There's not necessarily a need for us to drive flashy sports cars - even the purchase of an ordinary and practical set of wheels will generally need to be shared with each other and discussed in detail. 

 He's a really good grandfather. He loves my girls and although we don't get together as often as we'd like, the time they spend with him is like a gift. They too, know their 'Pup' is cool and a bit special and they're a bit proud that he's theirs. Now that she's older, Miss O has begun to realise that she shares a bit of a music thing with him. As her musical abilities are starting to shine through as one of her strengths, she's beginning to understand where some of it has come from - what a great thing for them to have in common. 

My Dad is here and I'm grateful for that. As you get older lots of people find themselves without their Dad for whatever reason and I'm glad I've still got mine. I don't see him as much as I'd like but I hope he knows that I love him anyway.

Happy Father's Day, Dad. You're the best. See you soon.