It all started in a little old house, on the corner of Highway T, in the middle of nowhere. Those are the first days of us, sitting in the recliner watching Tom and Jerry. We would eat Snickers ice cream bars, (well you'd eat everything but the ice cream, that was my part) and I would play with my Mickey Mouse and drag my blankets everywhere. That was all I knew. Now nineteen years later, here I am, sitting in a dorm room writing you a letter, one that should have been written a while ago, but I never had the "right words."

But I've finally found them and here they are:

Dad,

Thank you for the pony named Rowdy on my sixth birthday, for the four wheeler on my eighth, the car for my fifteenth. For leading me around on horses during parades, for the prom dresses, the hours I spent in a chair getting my hair and makeup done, for agreeing to let me buy a puppy the night before I planned on bringing her home, for yelling at me when I ate dinner at the table without pants on, and for the endless memories attached to all of them.

Without you I wouldn't know how to shoot a gun, drive a tractor, ride a horse, or drive a car. I was told stories about Bob and Lucy before bed when I was eight years old, and I learned how to dance in the middle of the living room to an old country song. Because of you, I was read Dr. Seuss's "Go Dogs, Go" a million times, and could probably recite it in my sleep. I was told to get up and "shake it off" when I fell down, because I was "ten foot tall and bullet proof." I was never spanked by you because one "look" and I knew. I was told to beat up any boy who ever was mean to me, even though I never did. And then as I got older, you mended my broken hearts.

Because of you I have been to twenty-seven states, hiked to a glacier in Alaska, talked legislation with a United States Representative, and currently attending the number one journalism school in the nation, just to name a few. You have blessed me with more opportunities than I could ever ask for.

Thank you for teaching me how to be a strong and independent young woman. To stand up for myself, to never compromise my morals, and to always know my self-worth. Thank you for teaching me that not every situation requires a reaction, and to be good to all people, even when they might not deserve it.Through loving my mother unconditionally and showing her the utmost respect at all times, you've taught me one of the greatest lessons I'll ever learn during a lifetime... how I should and will be treated and loved, and that I will accept nothing less. You have loved me and supported me through every stage, high, and low of my life and I will be forever grateful. You were the first man I'd ever known, and by far the best I ever will.

I love you times a million.

- Your official business partner