This is it.

March 30, 2012

I really should call this blog “dear dad” but someone else already stole that URL so I am using my name for this blog now. But the concept behind this blog is a book concept I have been thinking about for years. I actually started the book a few years ago (a.k.a. before kids) and have not done much with it since. I wanted to write a series of letters to my dad about the most influential and most memorable experiences of my life. They were directed to my dad, because he is the most influential person I have ever met and will ever meet. He is my everything.

So here I am, blog one and I think the only appropriate thing is write a letter to about my dad. I actually started one when I started on the book, but cannot find it now. That was several computers ago and probably on a floppy disk that is not even readable. Figures. But that’s fine, I can start from scratch. I think I know what I want to say.

Dear Dad:

I wish I could call you every day and thank you. Thank you for every single thing you have ever done for me. For the things I know of and the things I will never know about. I first want to thank you for raising me. To be a 20 something male back in the 70s and be a single dad, must have been tough. But you dealt with it and took responsibility for your kids. Was it always perfect, absolutely not. But you did the best you could. And it was really amazing looking back. Some key moments/memories for me were:

1. Living with grandma and grandpa while you were figuring your life out. They were absolutely amazing (and there will be a letter for them for sure in the future). They were fun, redneck, lovers, fighters, thrifters, fried food loving, bingo addicted fools. The number of Price is Right shows I watched that year (at the rip age of 4 or 5) still are forever in my head.
2. Having no restrictions or curfews. In hindsight that probably was not a great idea. But it worked for us and it was a great perk.
3. Helping you put together the music for the baseball games. It made me the DJ I am today. And I know if my current career ever failed, I have a back-up plan.
4. The Royals and Rainbows games and making me in charge of “player relations” in my middle school years. I fell in love with several dozen baseball players in my life and still dream of those nachos and sips of beer in the basement lounge.
5. Our genuine love of college football including fight songs. Only you and I will ever appreciate it as we do and one day we need to rent an RV and go to all the SEC games we can in a year.
6. Making me go door to door, work campaign events, deal with the media (telling them to @#$% off at 6AM), and meet all the people I did. Your love of public service is and was amazing and it made a HUGE impact in the person I am today.
7. Your work ethic. Yes you worked too much and needed to shut down more but you had so much passion for every project and that is so important for success and life.
8. Our wine induced drunk sessions. There are too many to write about and thank god “What happens at 1107, stays at 1107”. The spoons, the bad YOU TUBE videos, the telemundo New Years, they all have been amazing times.
9. Admitting your faults openly and apologetically. You did the best you could and that was a lot.
10. Being Bob Smith, enough said.

I will stop there for now. I could go on to a list of 100 but I think you get the gist. So thanks for being my inspiration, my best friend, my confidant, my counselor, my dance partner, my reminder of so many things. You are such an incredible person and I hope to write more and more of these letters to you in the future.

Yours forever,

Angel