My Father's Daughter.

The other day, some of my co-workers told me that I look like my dad. Which is weird because I've never really heard that before from anyone and it got me thinking about the resemblances (if any) between my dad and myself...I mean, we're both kinda skinny and almost the same height now, but that's all I can think of at the moment. Well, with Father's Day coming up, I figured I'd share a little bit about what it means to be my father's daughter other than the width of our stick legs.

The very first thing that comes to my head when I think about my dad is this verse:

 "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not part from it."    Proverbs 22:6

(This is pretty much what I believe to be the opposite of what my dad had in mind for me, although, as we all know...I'm a rebel!)

I don't know if I can be considered "old" yet, but I do know that no matter what I am doing, or where I happen to be, my dad's voice "training me" will randomly pop into my head and I don't think I'll be parting with it any time soon. Some words of wisdom just never leave you:

Dinner table, school desk, church pew, fence, you name it, I must always, "Sit up straight."

When someone says thank you, "It's not 'uh-hu', it's: you're welcome"

When my name is called, "It's not 'what?', it's: yes?"

When telling a story, "It's not 'me and him' it's: He and I."

                                                               oiy.

A few dad related fun-facts I've learned over the last 26 years would be:

-If you want a cute lab-mix puppy, tell your dad he needs a big "manly dog" around. It works.

-There are things my dad taught me, and things I taught myself because of my dad.

-Bike rides can make for great memories.

-His need for perfection became my obsession for imperfection. And now I can accept my every flaw and am the happiest me I could possibly be.

-Bring your dad to hockey practice, the horse stable or on vacation and there is a 98% chance you will be embarrassed at one point. But hey, he was there! And for that, I am thankful.

-The grass in your front yard can also be a part of your family. So next time around, give it a name.

-If you want your dad to like your guys friends, pick friends that are on the wrestling team.

-I tend to be too sarcastic when we are in serious situations. Sometimes I wonder how many times I actually got the car "pulled over" because of something I mumbled from the back seat.


-A piece of computer paper can be used as a child's punishment. Long story.



-No matter how many years you argue and fight with someone, one day it will finally stop. You just have to move out.

-Dads can also climb trees, so if you're 10 and you're upset about your 1st dog being put down and want to be alone, don't get stuck at the top branch, pick a small tunnel somewhere or something.

-Difficulties we had in the past are now pieces of dust I can shrug off my shoulders. What doesn't kill ya, makes ya stronger. (I'm SO buff!)

-I still don't like math. Dad tried. The greater than, less than (< >) blah blah blah...I just wanted to doodle alligators like the pictures in my math book!

-You can't make your friends or anyone else believe that you're adopted when you look like your dad's entire side of the family.

-If you want to ace your English essay, have your dad proof-read it. Just be prepared to re-write pretty much everything you just wrote in the last 5 hours.



I have to admit, there are some pretty useful characteristics I absorbed from my dad over the years...


-Like the way I love a good challenge, and I won't give up until I get what I want out of a situation.
-Or the desire to grow in wisdom and understanding.
-My mom says I am a romantic just like my dad is. I'm not really sure about that...He writes love poems to her, and I like Wuthering Heights, where everyone is dead, betrayed and tortured by love in the end. But ok Mom...
 -Or maybe the way I like to take notes in church during our Pastor's sermon.
-The way we both like little creative projects. Although, I tend to say, "forget this" if it gets boring, while he will do it until the job is perfected and finished.
 -I'm pretty sure I got my hard work ethic from him too.
-And the way I enjoy helping make others in our community happy. He's good at that.
-Without a doubt, the way I learned to go straight to my Bible and not a bottle of alcohol if I'm having a ruff day...Or a ruff year.
-And the way I am always thinking of how to be a better example of God's unselfish love, in the back of my mind. I saw that in my dad. (And yes, yes, in my mom too of course, but this is a fathers-day blog, so shush.)
 -We certainly have the way I am so hard on myself in common. We are our own worst critics.


I think I do have more differences than resemblances from my dad that I can think of...which will keep me thinking about how to improve what I've just written, for days, even after I finish, edit and post this blog.




                     And that definitely makes me, my father's daughter.

4 Wheels and Road Kill

So much can happen when you're on the road in the middle of the desert. And sometimes nothing can happen. Sometimes you can make something happen out of nothing! So really, road trips are great, right?

Like getting to see all the road kill, but sleeping through all the "live" animals along the road.

Nooo guys, I didn't take any pictures of the road kill. That's gross. And I couldn't take any pictures of the live animals because my sweet husband kept waking me up after we passed the animals. So thoughtful.




I've found that maturity can change your point of view about road trips. When I was little, I couldn't believe I'd be stuck in the car with the 3 people I spent all day trying to get away from...Now I kind of miss that. Well, maybe...maybe a little tiny bit. Anyway, now that Matt and I hit the road so often together, we love having the time to talk to each other or listen to music...and I've come to realize there are more things that can keep someone occupied than whether or not your little brother's elbow is on your side of the single arm rest or not. (Which, Mom, his was totally over the line!)



One thing I love about sitting in the car hour after hour is getting to listen to my ipod. I spend hours putting together a nice play-list and then get to spend hours listening to it! So it's perfect. Until Matt wants to put his play list on. Then he throws off my groove. So, we came up with an unofficial rule: Whoever is driving, picks the music. Ok fine, Matt's going to call me out on this one. It's more like, "if Sarah is driving, she picks the music. and if Matt is driving, she still picks the music.


Another thing I love is getting to yell at the retarded GPS machine...obviously I am right and the stupid thing doesn't know what it's talking about. "Make a legal U Turn, make a legal U Turn"...blah blah blah. Zip it Betty! (That is what we call her. Don't ask.)

I also love my Starbucks stops. Matt knows, this is going to happen whether he wants to or not.
"There's a Drive-Thru one! Pull over Babe!! pull over!!" ...Then we cut off 10 cars, and make it to the exit just in time.

Ah, Heaven in a cup!

Oh and my favorite thing about road trips, is realizing you have to pee when you're:
 A) stuck on the 91 fwy and you don't want to lose your "parking spot."
or
B) Just passed the last rest stop for 100,000,000 MILES!
or
C) Just got back on the road after a long stop and you MUST get going or you'll be completely off schedule!





Then there's always the joy of finally picking a place to eat, and they're "Out of everything" you could possible want to eat, at the moment! (Don't ever go to the KFC in the smallest hick town you find on the way to AZ. Apparently the whole freakin' town goes nighty-night at 9pm on Friday.)

One thing I must say is enjoyable now that we're older and wiser and more mature is, you won't hear me and Matt yelling at each other to "Stop looking out my window!" or "Stop touching my side of the car!"...at least, until Matt gets bored. Then we're in trouble. You'll probably hear something more like, "Why didn't you turn there!?" and "Turn HERE! uuugh!" and "Stop telling me how to drive!" and "Just pick a place to eat before we pass everything!!!"

...Like I said. Maturity.

So, who wants to hit the road?!