Dad Brags

Father's Day is fast approaching, friends, and I can't help but reflect on how lucky I am to have both the best Daddy and the best husband.  Have y'all heard of Man Crates?  It's a pretty cool concept, really - they ship awesome gifts for men in custom wooden crates.  Anyway, my friends over at Man Crates are running a pretty cool #DadBrags campaign, and when they approached me to ask if I wanted to participate, I jumped at the opportunity and thought, what better time than now to introduce you all to my Daddy?!  

Ain't he cute?  He's pretty much the best, and I'm about to enlighten all of you as to why.

My daddy has always looked out for me.  He helped me choose boyfriends by scaring most of them away.  I'll never forget my very first prom, when daddy invited all of his friends over to sit on our front porch in rocking chairs with shot guns propped up against them to spit tobacco at my poor date's feet when he came to pick me up.  In fact, I distinctly remember my date telling me that one of dad's friends whispered to him, "I ain't her daddy.  I don't have to like ya - I'll kill ya."  True story.  Dad also tried really hard to boost my popularity in school by "embarrassing the snot out of me" (as he would say) every chance he got.  Like the time my freshman year in high school when he drove me to school in his huge, loud diesel truck and as I was halfway to the front door of the school rolled the windows down and sang along with the Dixie Chicks at the top of his lungs. I'll never forget how I saw a classmate on the way in who said, "Who is that weirdo?"  I responded that I had no clue, and dad chose that precise moment to start hollering, "Saaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyrah, I llooovvveee you have a great day!!!!!"  Dad loves that story - he's pretty proud of it.

He has a sweet sense of style, too...

He has taught me lots of important life skills.  Like the one time I got in trouble (I can't even remember now what I did) and his punishment was to make me mow the lawn (five times!!!).  Those of you who know me know how well that went over.  Daddy told me that I should thank him because I could wear my bathing suit on the riding mower and get a tan while I was mowing.  No thanks.  I should state for the record that I did such a terrible job that I didn't have to fulfill that punishment - score one for me.  He also taught us how to pull loose teeth so the tooth fairy would come sooner (with pliers, because his fingers were too big to get a good grip on our little teeth - again: true story).  Most importantly, he taught me how to jump out of a swing.  Which may or may not have resulted in me breaking an arm.  

He has loads of sage advice to share.  Dad has doled out some real gems in the advice department over the years.  When we were younger, if we got hurt, he always offered to chop off whatever body part was ailing us before exclaiming, "It'll feel better when it quits hurting."  Whenever any of us wanted something new or wanted to do something that he was not inclined to get for us/let us do, he would always say, "Want in one hand, sh*t in the other, see which one fills up first."  Oh, and let's not forget how, when I got my first period, I was mortified because my Mom told my Dad.  He walked into the kitchen where I was sitting at the table, patted me on the head like a puppy and said, "You'll be okay, babe."  SLAP.  My sisters and I weren't ever quite sure whether even he knew what he was talking about.  :-)

He was a LOT of fun in college (my college, I mean, although I have no doubt that he was fun when he was in college as well).  Not only did he hand all the frat boys their tails on a platter when it came to drinking games, but he makes a mean beer pong table.  

He was also "beeper's" best customer, because he tipped generously and always treated the entire car to a late-night snack on our way home.  He wasn't so good at boone shots, though.

He is the best "Paw Paw" around.  Lilly, Mason and Craft think that Paw Paw is the greatest, and he teaches them all sorts of neat things like, for example, "pull my finger."  And have I mentioned that Lilly thinks that Cinderella's real name is "Cinderella you smella?"  Try to explain that one to her little girl friends who love princesses.

He is my sisters and my biggest cheerleader.  He's always been so proud of his girls.  He is a master spider killer and an amazing chef when it comes to breakfast or his "beans n' dogs."  He can build or fix anything you could ever possibly dream up.  He's excellent at moving his daughters and seemingly entire houses full of clothes, shoes and accessories in and out of various residencies, multiple times.  He's funny, smart, kind, tough and a big old sap when it comes to his family.  Whatever you do, though, don't ask him to change a diaper - he's avoided that for 30 years.  

I love ya, Daddy!  I only wish I'd had time to go through some of the archives at home prior to writing this post to pull out some better photos to share. :-)

Make sure you hop on over to the Man Crates website and brag on one of the men in your life on their #DadBrags page for a chance to win a Man Crate of your very own for that special daddy or hubby in your life.  I should note that in order to be qualified to be in the running for a free crate, you have to enter through Twitter prior to Father's Day (more info on the #DadBrags page).

We're in the home stretch of the work week!  Don't forget to enter the Freshly Picked Moccasins giveaway if you haven't done so already.