Today I turned 62 years old and like always my daddy asked, “What do you want for your birthday?”

I said, “Nothing, Daddy. I have everything I need. I feel very blessed.”

What I wished I would have told him is that he gave me everything, not only for my birthday but for every minute of every day throughout my life.

Saying Thank You

I wished I would have said: thank you for giving me life, for feeding me and clothing me and making sure you tucked me in every night. Thank you for teaching me to pray, for taking me to church. Thank you for correcting me when I did wrong and praising me when I did something good; for teaching me the difference between the two.

Thank you for driving me around in the car when I was a baby and could not sleep even though you were working three jobs at the time.

Thank you, Daddy for teaching me to ride a bike, to change a tire on my little car, for letting me work with you mending fences and working on your old cars. Thank you for playing catch with me and teaching me to hit a ball. Thank you for taking me golfing and letting me hit ball after ball after ball. Thank you for all the sacrifices you made to give me a good life.

Thank you for teaching me by example to be humble and to be kind to everyone. Thank you for loving my mama.

Thank you for always checking to see if I was broke. Even when I was a teen and I asked you for a little spending money and you’d hand me your wallet and say, “take what you need.”

Thank you for so many times when you picked up the pieces of my broken life, for holding me when I cried even though I was grown. Thank you for loving my three kiddos and being there when they were in need. Thank you for also teaching them important things that I never could — to fix anything, the right way.

How could I want more? There is no way. Daddy you’ve given me the best gifts always — you gave me your love, you gave me your time. I could not wish for anything more.