Happy Fathers' Day

Hey Pop! Happy Fathers' Day!!!!!!!!!!

I wish we could be closer to cook you a wonderful lunch and pick on you in person, but I hope you know how much you are loved, even if it is from afar!!!

• Thank you for taking on two more kids (who were probably bratty many, many times) that weren't even your own. You didn't have to.
• Thank you for putting up with me when I didn't want to accept you, like you, and sure didn't want to love you. You didn't have to.
• Thank you for adopting me even though I was grown and on my own. You didn't have to.
• Thank you for loving my children like they're your "real" grandkids. You didn't have to.
• Thank you for being Papa/Poppa (however that is spelled). You're the only one they've got, and they needed you. You didn't have to.
• Thank you for being a father/dad to my husband. He needed you too and still does. You didn't have to.
• Thank you for all you've done for us and been to us all. You didn't have to.

Yes, I know you're probably thinking lots of things to all my "you didn't have to's." But hear me out. I see kids all the time with parents (flesh & blood parents) who don't do half of what you've done for me and mine. I've seen kids whose stepparents or parents' live-ins are abusive, non-caring, and lots of other stuff, let alone parents who are absent or worse.

God blessed my momma with you, but He also blessed us too. I didn't know it at the time, but I do now, and I am so very thankful for you. I may not call you "Dad" but you are my Pop, which is different and better. My dad was my dad, not because he chose me, but because he was. I know he loved me, but that was his job because he helped put me in this world. But you chose to take on the role and all that it entailed, not knowing how it would turn out, and knowing it would be rocky at times. That took a lot of something special. That took a wonderful man to say "I do." You may not be perfect, and you may have made lots of mistakes in your life and have some regrets along the way, but Pop, your love and willingness to open your heart and home to two girls who were without a dad, well not every man would have done that. It takes someone special to do that. That speaks volumes about the man you are.

So, all these years later, thank you for being my father, my Pop. Thank you for being a dad to my husband and a wonderful, loving grandfather to my children. Happy Fathers' Day. I do love you!