60

Looking at my blog just now and seeing the previous posts title, "learning" got me thinking. Jason and I like to "watch some learning", which just means that we watch a documentary rather than a fiction movie or show. My dad said to me, well, my mom too now that I think of it, more than once, "I'm still learning". That would be said at so many different times and occasions, and was good for me to hear, good for me to know. We never stop learning. Not ever.

Today is my dad's 60th birthday. I am very proud of my father, for a lot of reasons. Last month I posted about him for father's day. Both of my parents have been so many things to me in my life. I guess that's what parents do. They provide, teach, discipline, lead, laugh, love, protect, etc... that could get long and ridiculous. How many people though, can say their parents learned? Right in front of them learned life lessons and had the wisdom and humility to say so out loud. WOW.

Father's Day

Today is a day we honor our fathers. I realize that to be fair I should have done this for my mom on mother's day, but there will be another one next year, and I got to see her for mother's day. :)

My papa is easily the most forgiving and generous man I'll ever know. Throughout my life he's been there as an example of Godly living and loving. Even when he was working three jobs and only really getting paid for one of them, he had time to tell me about my great-grandmother, or tell me he was proud of me for the garden, or my piano playing, or sometimes just because. His road has perhaps never been broad or easy, but you can't tell it when he smiles. He has a strength and courage that have their foundations in a love and strength that is bigger than he is, bigger than any problem he must overcome, and he knows that. I'm constantly amazed at his ability to keep going with a smile on his face and a kind word to those who don't deserve it.

Loving the unlovely is something he does daily. I just hope that we (his family) are lovely, and maybe easier to love. That we lighten his load and help to hold him up when life wears him out. My papa is an overcomer. He lives daily in grace and patience. The joy and relief he has given his whole life to those who need it is a beautiful thing to behold and remember. His ability to see the lesson in just about every situation, even when the lesson to be learned is the only possible positive thing, has been a great help to me. I am always trying to remember the lessons he taught me and to see the thing to learn in the seemingly impossible.

I am so glad Douglas Arther Dorris is my papa! I love him so much, thank you papa, for being the best man of God you can, believe me, it shows!