A Special Gift for Daddy...

As most followers know, I don't contribute to the blog very often with an actual "post". I appreciate the efforts my wife puts into this blog seemingly on a daily basis. It keeps our family and friends up to date on our lives and happenings. In the end, this blog is really for our girls to have something to look back on when they are grown and have children to let them know how much they mean to us, and that some of the "basic" daily things in life really mean a lot to Mommy and Daddy. When something "really special" happens, however, I want the girls to know how much it means to me. This Christmas was one of those times...

The best "gift" this Christmas came in a box that had a really great tie that Ashton had picked our for me from Dillards. Ashton had specifically requested that Mommy take her to Dillards to pick out a tie because "Daddy wears ties a lot for work, and he likes to buy ties at Dillards"! Well, she was definitely right about both of those statements. In the box with the tie was a story that she had written all by herself. It wasn't one of Mommy's suggestions, it was just something that Ashton did on her own. As I started to read the story "My Dad Rockes" I couldn't get much past the first line. Poor Ashton thought that I couldn't read her handwriting...little did she know how much the story meant to me and I was just really choked up!!

There are a couple of things I've done with Ashton as long as I can remember...give her piggy back/shoulder rides to bed and try to help her not be afraid of loud sounds and noises. I love giving her the rides each night...they have progressed over the years, to the point now where she "steers" me the way I'm supposed to walk. And, of course, if you know Ashton, you know that loud noises really get her riled up. The noise doesn't have to be "scary", just any loud/unusual noise really bothers her. I hate that they bother her so much, and it really is one of my goals to help her through her fear.

Now, at this point after 7.5 years, I didn't realize how much those activities meant to her. I just kind of figured that they were her "routine". It really means a lot to me that these things aren't just routine, but special to her. I know that someday I'll no longer be able to give her shoulder rides, and she'll eventually not be afraid or concerned with loud noises, but I promise her that whatever it is, I'll always be here to make the end of her days happy and make the loud noises not so loud.

The cover of her story: she drew me wearing a graphic t-shirt...she's very observant, and knows that I like my graphic tees!

The words turned out difficult to read, so here is what the story said just as she wrote it,
"Do you think
your dad rockes? If
you dont you should.
I think my dad rockes.
He dose lots of things.
He plays softball
just like me. He gives
me piggy back rides
with the help of my
stearring. He works
very hard not to make me
sacerd of loaud
nosies. There are so
many things my dad
can do! But the most
thing I like abot
my dad is that he is
my dad!
(in the picture, her shirt says "My Dad Rockes" and my shirt says "My daughter rockes")

I love you Ashton Raley, you made Daddy's Christmas with your special story!