Today is my dad's 70th birthday. We (my sisters and I) decided to attempt to have a surprise birthday party for him. It took a lot of planning, and quite a bit of fibbing. . . Ok, flat out LYING, but we pulled it off. Robyn told Daddy we were having a surprise graduation party for me! It was his job to get me to my "surprise party" and although he didn't know, it was my job to get him his surprise party. It was really funny, we walked in, people yelled "Surprise!" and he was looking at me. When they all started singing Happy Birthday, he finally realized that it wasn't a graduation party. . . The look on his face was priceless! I think our friend Melissa started taking pictures, and I hope she got that look on his face. We were so afraid that some of his friends would spill it, I actually picked one by name I thought would mess it up, but no one did. I think we really surprised him, which is hard. He is good at surprising us, but I don't think we've ever gotten him the way we did today.
My dad is the greatest dad in the world. My sisters and I always knew that our middle sister was our Mom's favorite child. That seems a little disloyal to say, but it really is true. My aunt says that perhaps my middle sister just needed her more, but my older sister and I always felt that way. But, our dad, on the other hand, had almost a magical way – if you asked any of us who was his favorite, we all thought we were. That's an amazing thing. Our dad has pastured three churches, been an associate pastor at another, and started a mission. He is a fabulous pastor. The really funny thing is that he messes up his words and says the wrong thing to the wrong people all the time, but people aren't offended, and it's usually funny. But whenever someone is hurting or in need, He always knows just the right thing to say to people who are hurting, and knows when to say nothing, just to be there.
Today, I think he was very emotional. I think he got a little "verklempt" several times. We invited a lot of people, and the best ones came. It was a great party. Everyone just talked and laughed and ate and talked and laughed and ate. My dad did not have an easy life growing up – his dad was an alcoholic, and he just disappeared one day. By the time my grandfather resurfaced, he and my grandmother had gotten divorced, and he had remarried, and so my dad had stepbrothers younger than his own children. I don't know where he learned to be such a good dad – but he is. I'm glad we had the chance to do this for him.