happy birthday daddy/mike!

well, although it's technically not my dad's birthday anymore here on the east coast (it's 1:22 a.m. on the 22nd), it still is in Portland (10:23 p.m. on the 21st), so I don't mind using the time change to my advantage.

Today is my dad's birthday, and I won't tell you how old he is, but I will say that he looks and acts younger than anyone his age I've ever heard of. 

So, in honor of his day, I'll tell you a few things you probably already know about my father:

1. he'll talk to anyone. Carry on a conversation with a brick wall. And probably keep it relatively interested. And truthfully, he is incredibly easy to talk to and I never have to worry about putting him in a room with strangers, which is nice.

2. he's extremely helpful and the nicest man ever—really, just like his father. Once I was with my grandfather, and as we were pulling out of a grocery store parking lot, he saw some carts that we're freely roaming in the lot, so he turned around, got out of the car and took maybe 20 minutes collecting all of them so cars wouldn't get scratched. dad's just like that. and I think he would think that's one of the highest honors possible. and he's always the self-designated dish-washer at events and gatherings, which, as everyone knows, is the least-favored task.

3. he keeps everything. i mean everything. from receipts to maps to broken toasters to ancient computer monitors to clothes I haven't worn in 15 years—and not because they're sentimental necessarily, but just in case someone might need them someday. but it does come in extremely handy when you need that one obscure thing that you're sure no one would have saved. 

So i really do have some more amazing (non-wedding) pictures of my dad, but unfortunately they're in Portland and I'm not right now, so they'll have to wait. But that just extends dad's birthday even further, right? And it's still only 10:37 pacific time, so I'm completely in the clear.

Happy Birthday, daddy! we love you!