Happy Birthday Daddy!

I met your dad in May of 2003. We emailed and talked on the phone to each other for a bit before, but our first face to face meeting was in May. The 12th I think.

Daddy's birthday was only a month or so into dating. At that point I didn't know a lot about him. Only the kind of stuff you talk about on first dates. Do I remember many of those conversation? I remember some, snippets of our courtship. One that comes to mind is a conversation we had about favorite foods. We were riding in his work cube truck and he answered my question about what he liked to eat. He said his favorite food would have to be oatmeal. Oatmeal? Are you kidding me? Oatmeal? Yes, he insisted it was. Okay. Truth be told I kind of liked that about your dad, it was a bit off the wall. Second truth be told: I've seen him eat oatmeal a handful of times in the 6 years I've known him. Apparently he doesn't want to ruin its favored status. But I digress.

We also got on the topic of books. I'm not sure how we got there, but he had mentioned a book from his childhood, Minn of the Mississippi. It was a favorite. For his birthday I got him that book. He was genuinely impressed. Of course when he mentioned it is such a casual way I figured that would be a cool gift. He liked it. And said he'd read it to his kids one day. He kept saying stuff like that, it made me wonder what the heck was going on. Because I really liked your dad and most guys didn't talk about having kids. At least the ones I knew! That night we went out to dinner at Dixies on Grand. He had jambalaya. Another thing I learned about him. He likes the jambalaya. Apparently his uncle Brett used to make it a mean version of it. Me, I stay away from shrimp and seafood in general. So mama doesn't make the jambalaya.
I remember him talking at that dinner how taking a trip down the Mississippi on a houseboat would be a fun trip. I think he even said it would be a good honeymoon. Ok, again with the "why are you saying this? No guy says this" moment for your mama. Your dad is a unique fellow.

And the icing on the cake, so to speak...A homemade Oatmeal cake (something like this). I thought I had nailed it with that one, but he really didn't seem all that impressed. I almost thought about making one today, but I think he prefers the chocolate variety more!

Happy Birthday Mike!
I love you and hope to have many more stories to tell about birthdays present and future. Today would include a story of daddy installing a new tv antenna (we're moving on up from rabbit ears...the switch to digital is next week..You won't even know a world without it. Yikes.)