Feliz Cumpleanos, Mi Padre

For those of you that need a translation, I said, "Happy Birthday, My Father!"

That's right, today is my dad's birthday. And in my grand tradition this year of giving my family member's shout outs on their birthdays (well, except for my sisters Jennifer and Melanie, whose birthdays both fell on dates when I was in Europe this year. I hope they forgive me, and know that I will do something real special next year!) I just want to pay tribute to my dad on his birthday to say how happy I am to have him as my dad.

 My dad is textbook definition of a good father. He has always worked hard to provide materially for his family. He works hard to be an emotional support at all times as well. He was always at the t-ball games, the violin recitals, the school programs and graduations, and everything in between. You know those cliche kids movies with the dad who is always too busy working to be around? Not my dad.

 My dad helped encourage my love of traveling and adventuring. When he would go on business trips, he would always try to take me or one of my siblings when we were as young as 8 or 9, so we could start seeing other parts of the country. I think I recognized even then that that kind of thing wasn't something common among dads who go on business trips. It was something my dad did to make us feel special. And whenever he had the chance to bring the whole family on a work convention trip thingy, he would. He is an all around family guy.
My dad is someone who is well liked, which makes me even more proud that he is my dad. Just over Christmas, I met a man who went to high school with my dad and when he found out I was the daughter of "THE Jeff Ostler!" he totally went off saying how much he liked my dad. He was the sports star of the school, but he was popular because he was a nice guy, and people liked him. And I have to say that he's a fun guy who is willing to do almost anything---including hiking Angel's Landing at his old age (his words, not mine) as pictured above.


My dad is a very spiritual person, and he worked together with my mom to raise his children in an environment where we would know that we could always go to them for help, and even more important, that we could ask for heavenly help through prayer. Our house was a safe haven from the crappy things of the world, and it was all because of what my mom and dad did to make it like that.

All of these traits of my dad culminated into being requirements for the man that I would marry. It made me set the bar pretty high, because I sure was lucky growing up with a father/male figure like that. And once you experience first class treatment, you shouldn't have to settle for anything less, ha ha.

 So happy birthday dad. We'll see you tonight down in North Carolina!