The Legend, The Myth, The Papa Man

Happy birthday to the one and only Shawn Maddox!

I absolutely cannot imagine where my life would be without this man - actually, I can, it'd be non-existent, since he's my dad.

He is quite literally my first memory. I remember being about 3 years old and I had on this white dress with red polka dots, there was a bell hidden in the fabric. I remember being nestled on his chest at their church and I could hear his deep voice reverberate off his chest and I felt...safe. A feeling that I didn't feel much after that in my life.

After my sister was born, my dad worked a lot to make ends meet, to give us the life we deserved - a truly selfless man, more than I can ever imagine being. He would come home from work, curl up with my sister and I and we would sit on the floor watching the Simpsons before he would go to tuck us in to bed and tell us the stories from his imagination. My favorite was one that was about magical ponies that lived high above the clouds, they saw an evil witch that was being mean to everyone and came down to explain to her that being nice would get you a lot farther in life. My sister and I later went on to write and illustrate this story for him.

After I had my daughters, he got into a groove of "papa dates". He took them to all of the Father Daughter dances and made sure that they weren't excluded from having a good man show up in their lives. He started silly routines with them - would take them to the Big 10 Mart after school. Always showing up for everyone, continually, consistently.

Ezra was born and the whole world changed. Not only was he Papa, but Ezra coined him PAPA MAN! My dad retired and life took on a whole new form. Through this beautiful, chaotic life of single - special needs - mom life, my dad has shown up for me and my children consistently and in more ways than I can every thank him for. He has gone on vacations with us, and helped me take Ezra to appointments, he has attended every court date and rushed over when I wasn't ok. He has heard me and told me that I have more strength than I can ever imagine. He has shown me how to be the parent that I crave to be, but somehow, he has the endless reserve of energy that I definitely lack!

His birthday was October 9th, so this post is a little belated, but there is no one that deserves to be celebrated more than The Man, The Myth, The Legend, The Papa Man!

I love you dad