Tribute to my Father

I was a Daddy's girl.  I always knew it and I loved it.  I knew that my dad would do almost anything for me.  I don't think that I ever took advantage of this knowledge, at least not intentionally. There were times while growing up, when I wished I had a sister, but those times were fleeting.  Most of the time I really didn't mind being the only girl because I was my dad's girl.  

He always called me "Jo".  Jo is my middle name and he was the only one who ALWAYS called me by that name. While he was in the nursing home, he still called me Jo. 

He was a wonderful father.  It was always obvious to me that he loved us all dearly. He introduced me to skiing, golfing, fishing, family day drives to the Mill to fish or shoot clay pigeons. We went to tons of movies as a family and if the movie we wanted to see wasn't playing in Logan, we traveled to Ogden or Salt Lake to see it. The only one we didn't leave town to see was "The Sound of Music".  He hated musicals and so we had to wait over a year for it to open in Logan. 

He had a great sense of humor!  I loved that about him!  He always had a funny come back for anything. My mom was the brunt of most of his jokes but she took it well. That sense of humor never left him. The nursing home staff loved him, even though he was confused at times, he was always good for something funny. 

He loved kids. Grand kids and Great Grand kids were everything to him!  He loved to have them around and he always wanted to make sure he had a new toy to give to them. No matter what was going on with him, he always wanted to know if I or anyone else needed anything. He always wanted to know if I was feeling okay and he was great for my ego because he always thought I looked too thin. 

He knew how to work and it was important to him. When I went back to school and then work, he drove out to my house in the early mornings and worked on my yard. It was wonderful to have all of that help. 

He was my biggest cheerleader, I could do no wrong in his eyes and I felt the same about him. I hope that I never disappointed him, it would crush me to know it if I did.