There are about a million things I could tell you about my dad.
- How he loved to do the YMCA
- How he listened to the sound track to Top Gun and Urban Cowboy on every long car trip
- How before a long car trip he would pray and then quote one of the last lines from Back to the Future-"roads, where we're going, we don't need roads"
- How he loved quoting from the movie Bring It On-"These are not spirit fingers-these are spirit fingers!"
- How he helped us both with our math homework and displayed an unbelievable amount of patience when we would inevitably become frustrated and start crying
- How he had many "dad-isms" like: "Physics tells why"; "Life is a series of proportional challenges"; and "Nothing good happens after midnight."
- How we could count on him to sing "Today is your birthday" each time one of us turned a year older
- How he danced to the CSI theme song-a full choreographed number he would do every time we watched together
- How he loved a good organ solo
- How we called him "White Shadow" or "Tomato Man" based on how he looked when we went to the beach
- How he schooled us all playing four-square at Thanksgiving
- How he told us that eating our vegetables would put hair on our chests-'cause that is what every little girl really wants.
- How he really was "High on Life"
But the Lord brought a sweet memory to my mind on Thursday night, just hours after hearing of Dad's death, and I think it paints a picture of what I love and will remember most about my dad.
Last year, I signed up to participate in the Rodeo Run 10K. I'm not really a runner, so this was a pretty big deal for me. I trained for 6 weeks and was running close to 6 miles by the day of the race. My husband Sean came downtown with me and was there to cheer me on at the starting line. I began the race with much enthusiasm and a decent pace. By the time I got close to mile 2, though, my burst of adrenaline had worn off and I realized that I still had 4 long miles to go. So to look up to see my dad and my sister standing on the sidewalk with handmade signs gave me a much needed boost. My dad has always been a cheerleader to both of us girls-whether it was coming to every drill team performance or volleyball game, or supporting us as we pursued our careers in the liberal arts, where at times support was financial as well as emotional. Dad's encouraging spirit is a trait I have seen manifest itself in my sister, Lindsay-and so it really shouldn't have surprised me to see them both there, early on a Saturday morning, screaming their lungs out.
I didn't see any of my family again until I approached Minute Maid Park and the end of the race. My dad was strategically standing on the corner that marked the beginning of the last .2 miles of the race. He waved his sign and shouted "Way to go, Katie" as I rounded the corner. Right before the finish I saw my sister and husband, and after crossing the line, I waded through the crowds to find my family and thank them for their support. When I found Sean and Lindsay, I noticed that dad hadn't made it back to them. I asked where he was, and Lindsay informed me that he had called and said that he was having so much fun cheering for people that he was going to stay at the corner and cheer for the rest of the participants.
Remembering this now, I feel so blessed to have had a dad:
- who sacrificed so much for his family-including sleep on a Saturday morning
- who took joy in every moment of life-even standing on a street corner downtown
- and who encouraged others to run well and finish strong-both that day at the Rodeo Run and every day in their relationships with Christ and the race toward eternal life with Him
