Daddy

Today is my Dad's birthday. He is 79 years old (hope he doesn't mind that I'm advertising that). He was born on May 8, 1929 in Lawrence, Kansas to Earl & Maude Gildehous. He was from a large family of 9 children. I have several black & white pictures of my dad when he was a little boy. He was so cute, but he was so dang tall and lanky. Because his family didn't have a whole lot of money and had a lot of kids, it seemed like my poor Dad, who was the second to the youngest, had to wear a lot of his older brothers' old clothes. Some of his older brothers weren't as tall as my dad and so his pants were always too short and his long sleeve shirts always came up to the middle of his arms. When he was younger he played the drums and then later in high school he played the sax and was in a jazz band that played for various functions.

After high school my Dad joined the Service and enlisted in the United States Navy. He became a sailor at the age of 19. I have a picture of my Dad in his military blues and I think he is so handsome. Love a man in uniform.

He married my mother, his second marriage, March 4, 1961. I was almost 2 years old when they got married and my sister was 7. He has never treated me, or my sister like we were his "step children". We were always his daughters, his little girls, his sweethearts. Growing up, even my very best friends never knew that he was not my biological father. He had olive skin, I had olive skin. He had dark hair, I had dark hair. I never, ever called him my step dad, he was and always will be my Daddy.

One of my absolutely favorite things I love to do with my Dad is fish. Every year, as long as I can remember growing up, my Dad and I would plan our summer vacation. If my mother and my sister wanted to come with us, well we would let them, but it usually ended up being just the two of us. We would go to Woods Canyon Lake, Willow Springs or Roosevelt Lake. We would camp and fish early in the morning, take a break to eat lunch and clean what we caught and then head out again until it got dark. He taught me so much on those summers on the lake. Not about fishing, but about life. As we sat alone in the boat my Dad would share his thoughts, his opinions and mostly his dreams for me and for himself. I heard so many cool stories. I could ask my Dad anything, some were pretty personal questions, and he would always tell me the truth, no matter how hard it probably was for him at the time. We had those same conversations sometimes underneath a car that he was working on or showing me how to change oil or maintain a car (to this day I'm pretty knowledgable about cars).

I love you Daddy. Thank you so much for always being there, for your unconditional love. You were, and I believe still are, the glue that keeps our family together. I am grateful for your example.

Happy Birthday - Love, "Your Little One"