day 5

dear dad,

it’s time to say thank you to the other half of the sara creation equation. after a quick week of snuggling up on the couch by your side, i miss you already. i am so lucky to get to pop back to chicago as much as i do to catch up my daddy time. now onto all the other reasons, i am so lucky.

i am grateful…

1. for friday nights country line dancing at the vfw honing my killer tush push, slappin’ leather, and two-step skills
2. for your frightfully loud yells to interrupt long periods of silence in the car on road trips (and how hilarious you thought it was every time)
3. and for your meticulously tracking of which gas stations and restaurants were at every highway exit along said road trips (before google maps)
4. that you taught me how to check my oil and are always there for calls about weird noises my car is making (seriously though, what is that cricket in my tire?)
5. that you are so proud of your three children (we are so proud of you too)
6. for your perfect comedic timing and dry sense of humor
7. that for several years, you spent 60+ hours cleverly hiding money into every day objects and turned christmas into an EPIC scavenger hunt (i still can’t figure out how you get a dollar bill inside a seemingly unopened can of tuna)
8. that i understand and appreciate that a smack to the gut or a tug on my ponytail means “i love you so much”
9. for all the long hours and hard work you put in to make sure i could take advantage of everything this life had to offer
10. that you always had conversion vans accessible to help move all my stuff from one college house to the next (and that you drove the five hours there and back to help me do it)
11. for your collection of amazing machines growing up… slushy machine, cotton candy machine, popcorn machine, hot dog machine, soda machine… what more could a kid want?!
12. for your incredible ability to make the biggest splash doing a can-opener off of the high dive
13. that you sat through every single one of my dance recitals, school musicals, and other performances
14. that i always knew when you had eaten the ice cream (no one else can make it quite as perfectly flat as you)
15. for the letters and poems you sent to me while i was at the new england literature program in college and disconnected from technology for six weeks (and your secretly amazing wordsmith skills)
16. that you still allow me to curl up next to you or into your lap even though i am a grown woman
17. that you are the only person i know who can make that weird hissing/spitting/puckering sound effect with your mouth (i won’t even attempt to try and spell it out, but you know the one)
18. for your siblings and everything that is “the schneider side of the family”
19. for your delicious recreation of your mom’s german pancake recipe (you’re going to have to give us kids a lesson one of these days)
    
20. for your extremely…long…drawn…out…way…of…telling…stories…complete…with…hand…gestures…
21. for your extreme attention to detail (ahem, perfectionism) and intensely creative mind
22. that you seem to figure everything out without ever asking me any questions
23. that you finally started to get out and see the world through your travels (and for the times you bring us kids along)
24. that you have a mailing address that remains the same for long periods of time (and that you allow me to use it as my mailing address no matter where i am calling home at the time)
25. for your outgoingness, charm, and wit
26. that you always let me ride in your big chief go cart when i was too small to drive my own
27. for the fact that your garage at old kirk was basically like getting lost in an “american pickers” episode (i think that old snow sled might be worth something nowadays)
28. that you know how to build the biggest bonfires i’ve ever seen and that we grew up in a place where we could do so
29. for the times i’ve seen you happy and the times i had to figure out why there was a photo of a panda on the wall
30. that i am your little weasel and always will be

bonus: for the days when you used to wake us up with “sin wagon” and the rest of that dixie chicks album blaring as loud as the speakers could go