I believe in birthdays.
I think it's important to have one day out of all the 365 of them that belongs to you. Now, yes, this day clearly does not belong solely to you but I digress.
This weekend marks the birthdays of 3 of the my most favourite people in the whole wide universe.
Dave Carrol on thursday, my dad on saturday, and my mom on sunday.
As much as I'd like to tell you that when I sat down to write this that the words came easily to me and I knew exactly how I wanted to express my appreciation, love, and overall admiration for each of these people - that would be lying though. It, in fact, has taken forever for me just to get here.
I originally had it in my head that I wanted to write a small paragraph explaining what they've uniquely taught me and a specific reason as to why I love each of them...that turned out to be much harder than I had anticipated. (Sorry guys, it's not that you're hard to write about...you're just hard to write about.)
If I could figure out how to articulate this coherently, I'd probably tell you that I think it takes an insurmountable amount of courage, as a grown man, to frequently, and soberly, put on a bright red leotard and prance around the city.. okay, so maybe not prance - but I'm sure if a kid asked him to, he'd do it. And I'd tell you how honoured I am to know someone as courageous and obedient as Dave is to do that.
Or maybe I'd tell you selfless my dad is, how regardless of what he wants, and regardless of how much it drives him especially crazy when my mom and I can't decide on anything, he always asks us what we want and what we think of everything. I'd also probably tell you how good my dad is at listening to God's voice, something that takes a whole of a silence and even more faith.
And I'd probably try to tell how crazy mom is, and that any given moment, especially when I'm in a bad mood, she can be found dancing...and I'd tell you that I'm pretty sure she thinks that she's good at it too...but I'd also tell you how caring she is and how great of hugs she gives - aside from that though, I would probably let you in a little secret...don't ever try to lie to her - she'll see right through ya like a squeaky clean window. However, apparently that's just a motherly super power, but it still wouldn't be a good idea to try and lie to her..she may be pretty, but she'd tough - don't mess with her.
If I remembered at the time, I'd tell you that Dave is my Luke, and that despite how crotchety he is, he really just loves to make people laugh - and he's good at it too.
If I could organize my thoughts, I'd probably try to explain to you that even though I don't know when my parents became my parents, that that was the best day of my life. But I would also tell you that the day I met them, I was very nervous to be working with a bunch of people I had never ever met before...and that my dad, he was just really funny. He made working with new people really easy. I'd tell you that he's as strong as the hulk but that he loves his kitties...and that the only way you'll likely ever see the hulk side of him is to mess with his girls... don't do that.. he loves us.
But more than all else, if I could tell you anything, it would be that these three people are down right, stand-up, quality individuals that anyone would be more than lucky to know. I also probably let you in on the fact, that my parents, are two of the most patient, grace-filled (not graceful, because oh brother, my mother is a klutz), loving people I could've ever imagined being blessed with.
I know this blog doesn't say a whole lot, but I hope that I have potentially, hypothetically, made it somewhat clear, ish, that I love the 3 of you very much and hope that you all have the best birthdays ever.
Here's to taking on another year together.
Cheers.
