Thoughts about Daddy

I have been thinking about my father all week. He would have turned eighty-seven this week had he still been living. A good friend lost her father this week and all those old feelings of loss resurfaced even though it has been sixteen years since I lost him. I loved my mother, but I never connected with her like I did my dad. He instilled in me from an early age a powerful sense of right and wrong. He taught me to believe in myself. He told me I could do anything I set my mind to do (and for a long time I really believed that.) I inherited his love of books and acquistion of knowledge, just for the sake of learning. He never sat down without picking up something to read. I was lucky to grow up in a house filled with good books and an example of someone who loved to read them. He was hard-headed (stubborn) and always right (unfortunately I acquired those traits also - just ask my family), but honest and trustworthy to a fault. I remember running into a fellow several years ago that had worked with Daddy and he told me that he was also in some sort of organization with him and every year Daddy was always elected treasurer, always. He said "Your dad had more integrity than any man I have ever met." Wow, will someone ever say anything like that about me? Probably not. I can still remember Daddy telling me: "Billie Jean, don't ever tell someone you will do something if you don't fully intend on doing it. Your word is the most important thing you have." He lived by those words. Happy Birthday Daddy.