To The Father Who Has Watched Me Soar

When I was a child, my father and I had a tradition. I always slept on the couch on weekends, which proved handy each weekend when I heard the telltale creak of the steps when my father was coming down. Me being a child, I would pretend to be asleep and he would play along even though he knew. He would tell me to get dressed and then we would go to what we call the town to get ice cream before traveling across the street to the park.

There's another thing we used to do: we would sit in his computer room, him playing music, me singing, then him filming it. Also, I have the numerous accounts of going to Pizza Hut after it was closed, playing hide and seek when I was eight because he worked there (I'm still undefeated).

These are my childhood memories, but recently there have been more like getting my first car, him meeting my boyfriend, and the most recent, him reading my acceptance letter into the University of Louisville.

We've been through several battles and we've been knocked down many times, but he's still my father. He's a goofy, music-loving, dad who supports me so much that I know he'll always be there for me. He's my dad who watched Teen Wolf and scary movies with me whenever. He's the dad who loves me so much that I don't know what to do with the amount of love.

What I do know, though, is that he's helped me become who I am.

All those late night movie nights, shopping sprees, abstract paintings, playing just dance, listening to music, riding in the Camaro, and trips to Carbondale mean so much to me.

Father, a.k.a. dadther, I love you and thank you for helping me become the person I am today. I know I'm loved and those precious memories I have will be with me forever, and I will cherish them. My children in the future will grow up with an amazing grandfather.

So, there's only one thing I can say to you dad, I'm a hippopotamus and I got noodles on my back.

Just kidding, I love you.