let me tell you about why i love my dad.
there was this one time, when i was like 17 i think. i was doing something that i knew i shouldn't have been doing, but in my teenage omniscience had decided that the rule was stupid because i obviously knew better. anyway, i was la-dee-daing my way around, flouting my parents' rules when my dad got home. he walked in, took one look at me, and calmly said, "that's not ok." and walked away. and that's all he had to say--my heart immediately sunk to the floor, and with those simple words, i knew what an idiot i had been.
i'm not trying to say that i love my dad because he can make me feel like an idiot in 3 words or less. i'm trying to say that i love my dad because he has such a no-nonsense "you know what's right, so do it" attitude.
he is unfailingly honest and has an incredible work ethic--every labor day, he would make us go out and work in the yard all day instead of going out to play with our friends. ("that's why they call it LABOR day.") my dad has taught me so much, like how to make a budget and change a bike tire, but also how to do what i know to be right and good, even if it might not be fun or easy. my dad taught me that people make mistakes, but it's not the mistakes that make the people, but rather what they do afterwards to change.
my dad is a good man, and i love him.
itty-bitty (angry) baby paul!
welp, the moment has arrived. this will be my last blog post before the mish. from here on out, my blog will be managed by the lovely alison, who will be posting letters, hopefully photos, and maybe even a cartoon or two if i can figure out how to work that from across the ocean. 
