It has come to my attention lately that I most definitely have the greatest, most wonderful parents in the world. It has always been in the back of my head, but I have just recently come to realize how truly wonderful they are. My parents are perfectly suited for me, which is reason number 2,398 for proof that there is an all-knowing God responsible for my life. I would like to thank them for a few things and consequently give LJ and Reggie some props and shout outs, if you will.
Dear Reggie and Laurie, thank you for (in no particular order)...
-- Reading all of my "novels" and stories when I was child. Your support of the "Files of Lauren Cowling" and the encouragement to write a sequel is part of the reason why this blog exists today, so I think a lot of people will be thanking you for that.
-- Getting the Cowling house hooked up to the internet early in its life. And then thank you for purchasing a cable modem almost immediately after they came out. Because of that purchase I was able to chat away on IM and MSN without ever being kicked off.
-- Taking (dragging) me to Razorback games as a small child and letting me cheer against them with all of my might. Thanks for acting like it would be ok for me to attend school somewhere else. It's like somehow you'd knew I'd come around and eventually grow to love (despise) the Razorbacks as much as you (more Reg than Laurie on that one).
-- Always waking me up extra early for anything we went to in the morning, for dropping me off 30-minutes early to everything I ever attended and for basically teaching me the importance of time. It is because of you that I can drive 900 miles without stopping to use the restroom, that I've never been late to anywhere and that I'm considerate of other people's time.
-- Threatening to leave me in jail if I was ever arrested. Because of that threat I was terrified to ever do anything wrong and subsequently have never done anything wrong aside from forging notes to check-out of school in 11th grade, speeding a lot and getting some tickets, illegally downloading music and shoe polishing the high school windows.
-- Teaching me that expensive things are generally nicer than cheap things, but are not necessary to succeed in life. In other words, thanks for never really buying me super nice things because now as an adult I don't live a life of luxury and spend my money on thousand dollar purses and gold-plated teeth. Side note: my parents did buy me name brand clothes starting a semi-young age and because of that I never bought a piece of clothing from Target until 2007. They also gave into my Polo shirt addiction when I was in middle school because I stated, "I only want the shirts with the horse man." They also always splurged on basketball and soccer shoes. I guess really I only missed out on Doc Martens in middle school, Nike Triax shoes in middle school and expensive vacations.
-- Sitting through what was probably thousands of soccer and basketball games throughout my first 18 years of life. I can count the number of games my parents weren't at on three fingers. They also spent about four million bones on traveling the U.S. with my AAU basketball team even though I never saw an ounce of playing time. I had somehow convinced them and myself that I was infact going to play college basketball and that it would all even out when I got my scholarship to play for Pat Summitt. That didn't really happen as I had planned, but they have seen a lot of gymnasiums they would have otherwise never had an opportunity to see.
-- Teaching me that education is important. And instilling a love of History in me.
-- Loading up a U-Haul one Saturday and moving me to Dallas and then giving me some monies to live off of for a short period of time.
** This is the most important**
-- For taking me to church every Sunday. For forcing me to go to youth group when I was in junior high and just didn't want to go, for being (somewhat) ok with me working at a church and a summer camp in college, for showing me what it's like to be a devoted member of a church with their tithes, presence, gifts and prayers.
Obviously I could thank them for a million other things, but I'd need to write a book.
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