Happy Birthday, Dad

Today is my Dad's birthday. He would've been 85 years old.



Since losing him at Christmas, I think about him every day, but wanted to pause and remember him "out loud" on his birthday.

My Dad was one tough guy, in many ways. Yet, in so many ways he was also a big softie. We'd always had dogs (mostly dachsies!), but over the last few years (since Hurricane Katrina), he & my stepmother had adopted not one, not two, but three little dogs who needed homes. All little dogs had my Dad wrapped around their paws.



I was looking through his senior yearbook and found his class picture. (Isn't he handsome?!)



And then I saw it: "Track, 2"! Dad had run track his sophomore year in school! For whatever reason, he didn't continue with it. I'll never know, because Dad never did talk about the past much at all.

My favorite picture of Dad and me as a kid was taken at the Island-- our nickname for Dauphin Island. We were getting ready to surf those waves!




Dad absolutely LOVED to be on the water, even though he went to sea for a living, as Chief Engineer for a steamship corporation. When he was home, we'd usually be out on the boat fishing, shrimping, or crabbing, floundering, or oystering.






(That's a marlin that Dad landed during a billfishing tournament.)

I won't go into what I think Dad instilled in me that's helped my running...Maybe that's for another blog. Or maybe not. But, I will say that he's been an inspiration for me in my races this year, especially at Boston.

Thanks for letting me ramble for a minute and tell you a little about my Dad.

I love you, Dad. Happy Birthday.



"-DL"



Relentless Forward Motion, Ya'll...