There is a new song from The Zac Brown band called "The Man Who Loves You the Most" that just came out. It makes me think how blessed I am to have so many amazing dads in my life. My own dad taught me to love Jesus, to be generous and to put others first. He also taught me not to take myself too serious. He is hilarious and makes people feel so good.
Stanley Dale Carter
Dandy Ruff the Shriner Clown
Every year he puts on size 20 clown shoes and helps with the special needs rodeo. He hands out clown stickers and balloon animals at the rodeo making everyone laugh.
He will not miss an opportunity to volunteer for cook outs, & church breakfasts. He has been an usher at church my whole life. We moved around and every place we lived both my parents jumped to volunteer whatever the church needed them.
I looked to my dad to show me how I should be treated in my own marriage. Growing up I remember date nights where he took country western lessons with my mom because my mom loves to dance. Once a week in the spring we would have a babysitter and we would take her out. He loves and respects my mom.
Always the jokester- Caroline said "Grandad, I stepped on a splinter " Grandad grabs his pocket knife and said "let me saw that foot off for you and get that splinter out."
Baby Stanley Dale- This is where I (and my children) get my blond hair from.
August 7th 1982
fishing with my dad
Meeting Dondi for the first time.
He made sure I knew what an important job being a sister was. "This is your best friend Kylie Wylie you need to take care of her."
My favorite memory as a little kid was playing endless games of a hide-and-seek game called wog wog. My dad would hide with and raccoon puppet on his hand. Then Dondi, Jacee & I would yell Wog Wog and go and look for him. He would make the raccoon say Wog Wog in a high pitch raccoon voice and we would find him. When we found him he would yell "Boo!" and chase us with that raccoon. We would play this game for hours. Also Dondi and I would jump out to scare him everyday when he got home from work and he would always pretend to be scared.
In 6th grade I got to be the ball girl at my dad's varsity football games while he coached. I was so proud to be down there with him. He told me he liked coaching the offensive line because they were the guys that never got the credit but would win or lose the game.
Always the clown even when talking on facetime
Waving at the camera
I asked the girls to tell me their favorite thing about grandad:
Caroline: My favorite thing with grandad is playing with the dogs with him. He let me go to the vet with him-the dogs were scared and whining but we talked to them to calm them down. Also grandad gave me cake in bed at 10:00 at night.
Ali: Grandad always let me get the mail with him and we watched Call of the Wild and he howled like wolf.
Dad saying:
Me: Bye dad, see you later
Dad: Thanks for the warning
Ricky Lee Prather
Ricky is an amazing father-in-law. He showed Chris how to be a dad. Ricky is a hard worker. Chris talks fondly of the summer when he was home from college and he got to work with his dad.
Also Chris told the story when Ricky took him to a Houston Rockets basketball game. I laughed when Chris told this story:
His friend Eric told Chris a story about how Eric went to his own dad and said "Dad, You are the best dad ever" and then Eric's dad went and bought him a basketball goal. The next day Chris was telling Ricky the story and then Chris told Ricky, "Dad, you are the best dad. Ricky (who already had this surprise planned for Chris) said let's go to a Houston Rockets game. They got up early and flew to Houston, watched a noon game, went to Dave and Busters and then flew home that same day. Chris said he thought "I can't believe that worked".....
Ali Loves her Papaw. When he comes over she immediately gets into character and starts dragging papaw into whatever world she is living in in the moment.
I asked the girls about their favorite thing about Papaw:
From Caroline: My favorite thing with papaw
is playing poker and 21. One time I lost all my poker chips and he gave me his stack. He spends hours playing games with me.
Ali: Papaw is hilarious (Ali is running around in a circle and laughing while talking about papaw) We play all kinds of games. We play horses, unicorns, & dogs.
Papaw teaches all kinds of games
Both Nana and Papaw show up to all school events
Papaw with his grandkids
Joe Bill Carter
Grandad Carter was a great man. When I think of him I see him on his deck, feeding deer, carving wood and smoking a cigar. I have a King Edward cigar boxes to hold markers in my craft drawer. When I open that box and breath in and think of grandad.
He had tons of rattlesnake tails hanging from his rearview mirror. I can't tell you how many times we would be taking his boat to the lake and we would see a snake crossing the road. He had a shovel in the truck for just such an occasion. We would have to stop and if it was a rattle snake he would kill it and take the rattle.
He loved to fish: my favorite was going with him to catch the perch for his trout-line. It was fun because he knew where to go to catch tons of perch so I could catch 20 in the hour. I thought fishing was easy.
He loved garage sales. He once bought a treadmill and turn the belt into into a knife sharpener. He said "look Kylie I can sharpen this knife and check my blood pressure." What a problem solver.
He could carve anything out of wood. These animals carvings are in my house and when I see them I think of my grandad.
My grandad made this wood carving when I went off to McMurry University. It is in Caroline's room now.
One time Chris mentioned he thought canons were cool so that night my grandad made this for him. Just whipped it out. I love that Chris has memories of grandad Carter and knew him.
Donald Keith Riffe
The world lost an amazing man this year: Grandad Riffe
A few months ago I wrote about this incredible man:
Last month my grandmother gave me all the cards I sent to my grandad over the years. There were birthday cards, thank you notes, pictures I drew and just random letters I sent over the years. He kept everything. Here was a recent card we sent after his knee replacement surgery:
Then there was thank you note I sent to my grandad which was my favorite memory with him.
My grandad took me to a fall daughter/dad camp out at Camp Kiwanis for girl scouts. I remember singing silly songs around a campfire and making a bird house. He was always so positive and proud of us. I miss him.
Christopher Lee Prather
Chris has all the incredible traits of all the dads:
He is hard worker & strives for fairness and honesty like his own dad
He is hilarious & fun to be around like my dad
He is a problem solver like my grandad Carter and tells great stories
He is generous, loves Jesus, takes care of and loves his family like my grandad Riffe
I have been thinking how I can truly put into words what Chris means to me and I don't think I can accuracy describe the depth in which I love him. Our girls will know what kind of husband they deserve. Their dad loves, shares, sings, reads, disciplines, talks, laughs and plays with them.
He works hard to take of us and is always explaining and teaching. Even while building with legos or kicking the soccer ball he is always problem solving with them.
He usually takes the girls to their dentist and doctor's appointments. Ali HATES the dentist- Hate might be too nice of a word.... loathe, detest, despise might be more accurate. The last time Ali went Chris practiced for weeks before she went. He let her lay down and he flossed her teeth with plastic gloves. She still had a hard time and he still had to hold her but she was so much calmer. He is so good with the girls.
He is fun and does fun things with the girls. He is always singing and whistling around the house.
From the Girls: I just typed as they talked:
Caroline: My favorite thing about dad is playing games with him. He also gets the best road trip snacks: blue chips and peanut butter crackers and he makes a good steak. Also when we read Swiss Family Robinson. and he gives the best back rubs. He also does really funny voices. "hello children" & "cup of coffee" in a funny voice. I beat him in Mario Kart once.
Ali: (picture her running all over the place and talking) Dad gives the best hugs. I like to play tag with dad. Dad is silly he is always pretending to swallow my blanket and he puts it in his shirt. When he sings at night: I've Heard it Said (Love song by Third Day). Donuts on Friday, launching on the bed before bath time.
He is always teaching the girls to think & is constantly playing games with them. Car games include "I SPY", Math Problems & Spelling games. At home he plays Uno, Mario Kart, Skip Bo and Monopoly.
How did I get so lucky to have such a brilliant, wonderful partner. His favorite saying is: "Home Team" meaning everything he does is for me, Caroline & Ali.
Happy Father's day to the best of the best!
