1953 to now. (for my pa)
today's my pa's birthday.
and so, for my pa ....
i used to sit in our basement, little house in texas, and read the encyclopedia ... yes, for fun. pushing my glasses up every few minutes, hunched over the articles and memorizing bones in the body.
you would come home for lunch in the summer, and make us both bologna sandwiches. in the evening, you taught me how to use a telescope and showed me the rings of saturn.
you're still the best cook when mom's out of town cause it's one of three: grilled cheese, spaghetti, or what's the phone number to the chinese place?
you gave me my first camera, and you told me my first story ... the only two things i've always cared about since i can remember caring about anything at all. all those bedtime stories about zebras and turtles and the monster at the end of the book. all those trips to k-mart to get film for my polaroid camera that i was inseparable from the time i learned what a camera was.
i was eight years old when i woke up early in the morning on christmas to a strange noise ... i opened my eyes and squinted .... a complete aquarium set up right next to my bed, the best thing i never knew i wanted until i had it. y'all had to drag me away from watching all the fish for hours.
on the tv, right now, i see that clay pot i made for your birthday in fourth grade. on your desk, there's a rooster mail holder that i made in girl scouts nearly two decades ago.
and still, everytime i make a sandwich, when i turn away to get a glass of water, i turn back and see that someone has made a hole in the top of the bread with their finger ... and i can hear you snicker as you leave the room. a game we've been playing for years.
you're the one that named me.
you're the one that let me go on the biggest slide on the playground, when mom would have had a heart attack.
you're the one that still laughs at my clumsiness.
you're why i know origami, geology, french, too much about baseball, chemistry, and how to calculate way too many numbers at once in my head.
you're the one that makes me try new food.
you're the one that taught me when to hold a grudge and when to look to a newer sky.
you're the one that told me i am gregarious, a closet nerd, and the artistic one.
you're the one that will read any book i give you ... including comic books, you must really trust my taste!
you laugh at the same things as me.
you raised me on monty python and david letterman.
i've never felt bad for being different as soon as i talk to you.
when every kid in my class gave me shit for being smart, you gave me shit for not being smart enough.
you taught me to use my words as fists, my mind as a gun.
our two in the morning talks over mom's homemade brownies and thick glasses of milk changed the way i thought about my mind, changed the way i look at my life, and cleared the path that i'm walking today.
and i've always said, i will marry the man that makes me laugh more than my pa ... and i still adhere to i will marry the man that teaches me more than my pa.
thanks pa. happy birthday from the (used to be) youngest of the clan.
