My Dad's Birthday

When I was little, from around December 20th to January 2nd (at least) was a block of birthday/holiday celebrations. My birthday is December 25th and my dad’s was January 2nd. That timeframe was an excuse to do extra special stuff.

Today my dear old dad would’ve been 87. He was in his 40’s when I was born and passed away when I was in my 20s. I miss him dearly. He was my best friend - I was quite the daddy’s girl. (He raised me.)

I do a sort of ritual of his favorite meal for dinner and do something in his honor annually on this day. It has been evolving since 2004 when he passed. This year, I am spending the evening creating. I am working on an extra special personal project that requires a lot of design work from me. It’s a laser cutting project which I think he would’ve been excited for me to have a laser cutter. He was a very gifted mechanic (before and after his Navy career). You know when someone has a talent and they just shine and make it look so easy. That was him with any machine. I unfortunately did not inherit that gift from him as he had me working on small machines like lawnmowers or doing auto body work.

I usually wear aprons when I cook/bake. Apron (and most of my aprons was made by Kristine Ann.)

My dad and I. I was probably around 5 or 6 years old here and this was not an uncommon scene. Heavy machinery was this girl’s jam. I actually tried to start one of our backhoes up myself. I got it into neutral and my dad had to chase me.

Thanks to him, from a young age I’ve been comfortable around various types of machines and mechanical gadgets. That has come in handy many times over in my life. From being a single mom having to do a quick car repair on my own to fixing a horribly over complicated office printer.

I currently have nothing to share with you about my current project. But I feel like working on something creative that will turn into a tangible thing is the best way to honor my dad today. He would’ve kicked my butt if I just moped around on days like this. :)

xo-Thea