Thankful November Day Two- My Hero

       Today I am thankful for my father. Now that I've gotten older I can look back on my childhood and see the countless numbers of things my father did for me just in the name of love. He was my chauffeur, my personal chef, my dry cleaner, my homework helper, my softball, basketball, and volleyball coach, my "Dad, I need five dollars" giver, my "Dad, there is a roach!" killer, my protector, my advice giver, my "everything is going to be okay" teller, my "get in the storm pit now" tornado weather man, and a "fix this, fix that, this needs painting, that needs nailed down" fixer upper. 

        I have always been able to count on my Dad to help me with whatever mess I had gotten into. He was always there to give me advice or to shove me into the right direction. Not only do I get my big head from him, I get my sense of humor from him. He makes me laugh- like really, really laugh. He looks like Godwin from Duck Dynasty, lol. That alone makes me chuckle. 

        He is the strongest person I know. He has battled being diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and has put up with us three girls ever since we entered his life. He takes care of everyone around him before ever tending to himself or whatever he needs to do. He is the best, and I am extremely blessed to have him in my life. 

        I decided to take a trip down memory lane today..

        When I was about nine years old we visited Vision Land (currently known as Splash Adventure). We had passed by one of the carnival games that had gigantic stuffed Tigers from Winnie the Pooh as the ultimate prize. In order to win the massive animal, you had to through a ball into a cup. Sounds simple enough, right? In all reality, the ball was bigger than the cup itself, so, no one could really "ring the cup" with the ball because it wouldn't fit. Me, being the hard headed nine year old I was, would not take no as an answer. My parents knew it was a waste of six dollars, but, after ten minutes of nagging, my Dad stepped right up to the front of the line and payed his six dollars for his three chances. The first and second ball were well over thrown and hit the back of the wall and fell down. He had one more shot. I was praying so hard that my Daddy would win me that big ole stuffed Tiger, and, to everyone's shock, the last ball thrown went over the cup, bounced off the floor, and sat perfectly on top of the cup. Lights flashed, horns were blown, and before I knew it we were surrounded by spectators throwing money at my Dad to try and win them a stuffed animal. I had a four foot tall Tiger that towered over me. I dragged that Tiger through that entire theme park while everyone owed and awed over my prize. Tiger was so massive that he had to ride in the back of the truck with us girls with his head out the window. I still have that Tiger. To this day, my Dad will always be my "winner".

    I've been especially blessed this year when my father helped me pay for my car that had broken down days after buying it. I was so heart broken knowing someone would sale me a car knowing something was wrong with it. I felt like I had made a huge mistake and that I was going to end up carless and unable to get to work and around town. My Dad was quick to help me figure out who to take it to and to help me pay for it. I am extremely blessed to have such a loving father who is willing to help me in the hard times, even when I am grown and out of the house. How did I ever get so lucky?

   And, last but not least, shortly after getting my car out of the shop my father and I took a trip to the Alabama/Georgia line to buy some lottery tickets (and to push the Cruiser to it's limits to make sure it was fully functional and fixed) We must have spent an hour buying and cashing in scratch offs. Our clothes had scratch off pieces all over them, and our fingers had turn black from rubbing the stuff off. At one point, my Dad had thought he hit the lottery. He needed one more lucky seven. Before scratching off the last one, he rubbed that lottery ticket all over his head and prayed to the cash-in-ticket Gods and scrubbed off the last ticket, just to find out he won all of seven dollars. What a goof! 

This is my Dad's selfie. Can you believe my Dad used the word "selfie". Geeze, I love this man.