Because You Loved Me

This is my VERY late Father's Day post.

It is hard for me to express everything I hold in my heart for my dad.
But I can tell you that he has a very BiG part of my heart.
I feel safe and secure with my dad. I have confidence in him that he will always take care of me, protect me and be there when I need him. He will be there to stand beside me when I am scared, he will celebrate with me when I experience triumph and he will pick me up and dust me off when fail. He will encourage me when I am down, laugh with me when I'm happy and give me advice and guidance when I am lost.

He is strong and gentle and stable. Most of my favorite memories involve him, and I am grateful that he was there. It is hard for me to talk about him sometimes, because I love him so much, and I can hardly think of how much he means to me without crying.

Dad, thank you for all you still do for me. But here are some of my favorite memories of you from when I was little.

• Playing "bear" where you would tickle Kelly and I until it hurt
• Playing crack the egg on the trampoline
• You teaching Kelly and I how to use the "pulley" system you made for our tree house
• Endless hours on the basketball court and thousands of games of Horse
• When you would hook up the wagon to the lawn mower and give us rides
• "Waffle, Waffle"
• Pushing us so high on the tire swing that we could pull down branches from the fir tree
• Laying on the hammock and telling you what we hear
• Our nature walks across the street and "Captain Hook's" house
• Playing shark everytime we would go swimming
• The sock game
• Our tent in the forest behind the house you made for us to play house in and camp out
• Your ability to make a swing wherever we decided we wanted one
• Pulling us around on a blanket over the wood floors as you ran
• Throwing us up to the ceiling in the living room
• Hearing your recliner closing when you were on your way down to our room to tell us to GO TO SLEEP!
• The space girls stories you would tell us at bedtime
• Teaching us how to shoot the BB gun
• Playing the maze game down in the field when it would snow

I could go on and on, but I think you get the point. You may think we forget about these things because we are older now and don't tell you we appreciate you as much as we should. But we do remember, these things are what you did with us to make up our childhood. Thank you for loving us. I appreciate you dad and I love you. Happy Father's Day.

These are the lyrics to Celine Dion's "Because You Loved Me" song. I will always think of you when I hear it.

For all those times you stood by me
For all the truth that you made me see
For all the joy you brought to my life
For all the wrong that you made right
For every dream you made come true
For all the love I found in you
I'll be forever thankful
You're the one who held me up
Never let me fall
You're the one who saw me through, through it all

You were my strength when I was weak
You were my voice when I couldn't speak
You were my eyes when I couldn't see
You saw the best there was in me
Lifted me up when I couldn't reach
You gave me faith cause you believed
I'm everything I am
Because you loved me

You gave me wings and made me fly
You touched my hand I could touch the sky
I lost my faith, you gave it back to me
You said no star was out of reach
You stood by me and I stood tall
I had your love I had it all

I'm grateful for each day you gave me
Maybe I don't know that much
But I know this much is true
I was blessed because I was loved by you
You were always there for me
The tender wind that carried me
A light in the dark shining your love into my life
You've been my inspiration
Through the lies you were the truth
My world is a better place because of you
I'm everything I am
Because you loved me