my father.

With Father's Day fast approaching and my ever-so-busy calendar I am paying tribute to my biological father a couple of days in advance. I don't think he's much of a blog enthusiast, which means I'm even more selfless than I originally thought because he might not ever read this! Here's to you, Reg...

How does one write a tribute to the man who's given her 76% of everything she's ever asked for and only asked for 34% of it back in return?

Reg, thanks for being the most punctual person to ever live. Thanks for teaching me that 3:30am is early and 6:30 means you should either be at your destination or halfway there. Because of you, I've never been late to anything ever and all of my friends think I'm the most annoying person in the world and compare me to Hitler when we take a road trip. It's because of you that I can go six hours in a car without having to take a bathroom break and it's because of you that my watch is my best friend and quite possibly, my soul mate. Thanks for teaching me that time is valuable and 30 minutes is only long enough to wait. But, really thanks for making me dependable.

Reg, thanks for valuing education and pushing me to work hard in school, even if pushing me meant putting the fear of God into me at an extremely early age to do well. I'm sorry I couldn't carry on the family tradition of barely squeaking through college with an engineering degree and decided to pursue something more creative and right-brain like. But, you're still the smartest person I know and it's because of you I feel like I can do just about anything simply because, "my dad is an engineer." I can't wait to watch you do math and science with your grandchildren someday. It will surely be a sight to watch someone who needs 57 pages of scrap paper and four pencils (with fresh erasers) do math with children who will probably come out of the womb texting and using calculators. Thanks for having the answer to every question ever and if you didn't have the answer, thanks for getting it in a timely manner. It's because of you that I love to know the how and why of things. You are my human google and that is said with much love and much admiration.

Reg, thanks for being absolutely freakin' hilarious. I'm sorry I didn't figure out how funny you were until I was 18 though. Nonetheless, you make me laugh like no one else and without a doubt much of my sense of humor and dry wit comes straight from the horse's mouth-- you. Thanks for laughing with me and for telling great stories about clowns and pirates and for appreciating Chevy Chase, I owe my love of all the Vacation movies to you. Actually, most movies from my childhood are still my favorites even now, because you didn't know that the brosef and I shouldn't be watching movies like Major League when we were but wee-little-tykes.

Reg, thanks for being a daddy, a dad and a father. You worked so hard to buy me expensive Nike shoes for me to play basketball in and you only missed like, two games ever in my whole life. Thanks for loving me enough to discipline me and teach me right from wrong. And left from right. Thanks for protecting me frogs, from a scary big brother and for making sure I always had my seat belt on. Thanks for playing catch with me or shagging baskets for me even though you had been at work for 10 hours. Thanks for taking care of my mom and for loving her. Thanks for showing me what a husband and dad is supposed to be-- selfless. Thanks for taking care of your mother while she was sick and for being the best son-in-law ever to your mother-in-law. Thanks for finally learning how to text message. Thanks for loving Fergie and for always calling when she's on television. Thanks for teaching me how to do things, no matter how painful, rather than just doing them for me. Thanks for raising me to be independent. Thanks for loving me even though it's extremely difficult at times, but hey-- I am my father's daughter and I couldn't be more proud to say that.

Happy 27th Father's Day, Reg, I hope you finally get that parrot to complete your life as a pirate.