Happy Birthday

Today would've been my father's 54th birthday. He was the second to the youngest of seven children! He was born on pioneer day and was named after Joseph Smith's younger brother Don Carlos. My son Brock is named after his Grandfather, and one day when he is old enough to understand I will tell him all about the man that he is named after and let him know that he has big shoes to fill. I often feel my father near me mostly when I'm alone in the house or after everyone else is asleep. Some people may think that is a weird thing to admit but I look at it like this, if I left this earth I would definitely check in on my children from time to time.
My father was a wonderful man full of love and life and he was one of the best men I have ever known and I'm proud to call him my father. I miss him so much that my heart truly aches to hear his voice or have him hug me. I look in my son's eyes and I know that he had a hand in sending me this sweet spirit to call my own. I feel if this world had more men with sweet spirits and kind hearts like my father we wouldn't live in such a place filled with so much war and hatred. My father was and always will be one of my heroes. He didn't have the easiest of childhoods but he never dwelt on the negative and he always talked about his mother and father with the greatest of respect. He was a great example to me of what a good man should be. He never raised his voice at me or my mother and he taught me what to look for in a good husband. I can just remember us sitting and talking when I was younger and he would always say, "I wonder who you will marry?" or "I can't wait until you have some grandbabies for me to spoil" and that he would. I have know doubt that he would love the heck out of Brock!
One of my grandma's favorite stories to tell over and over again is how when I was a baby my parents were dirt poor but he would go to the fanciest stores he could find and buy me the frilliest dresses that they had and he would proudly tell everyone he would see that his baby girl would always have the best things in life. And he kept that promise, and I can't ever remember wanting for anything. My mother and father were never well off and it's probably because they wasted all their money spoiling me and my brother! I love him more than words can express and he knows that I always will. Happy Birthday Daddy I only wish that you were here to celebrate with us!