Darth Billgr

This is my dad.

I don't know who he's posing with. Some strange man with a beard and a baseball cap . . .

(*winks*)

Anyway, it is March 2nd, which we all know is my father's birthday. (Plus, my parents' anniversary. Happy 20th, Mom and Dad!!!) And since he is turning (*gasp cough wheeze*) 43 (*cough wheeze gasp*) I thought it'd be adorable or something if I wrote 43 things about him, because he's pretty much amazing ("And handsome! Don't forget handsome!")1. He was born a twin. (The older, smarter, better-looking of the two, naturally.)
2. He was raised in California, near the ocean. So he's a very good swimmer.
3. On that note, he used to give me piggy-back rides in the pool when I was little and didn't know how to swim. Those were my favorite times at the pool.
4. He got in several fist fights when he was in school, and made some of his best friends that way.
5. He also wreaked much mayhem when he was in school, because he knew that it's better to leave high school with good stories than with good grades. His antics include but are not limited to: shutting down the power to part of the building, sending fifty paper airplanes soaring out over a room in the middle of a big test, as well as lighting the schoolyard (and his pants) on fire.
6. He was friends with a kid named Rex, who was a psycho.
7. Even when his psycho friend Rex ran over one of their friends and drove the rest of them off a fifteen-foot cliff, my dad kept getting rides with him because it was super exciting.
8. He played the saxophone.
9. He used to play baseball. With real wooden bats!
10. He also used to swordfight with kitchen knives. Once his twin brother got his hand sliced open doing it. They told their mother he'd been making a tomato sandwich. They didn't tell their mother the truth until they were in their thirties.

11. His first job involved dressing up in a giant Darth Vader head and standing on the street corner trying to wave people into Vader Video.
12. He had to wear braces for five years. (Mom just doesn't understand what that's like.)
13. He served a mission in Oklahoma and brought back a sweet t-shirt that I wore as pajamas for a very long time.
14. He got an invitation to join Phi Kappa Beta when he was going to college at UVSC.
15. He met my mother when he was working as a manager at McDonald's.
16. The first time he asked my mother out, he simply walked over to the calendar at work, looked at it for a moment, then said, "Hey, you've got Friday off, too. What movie are we gonna go see?"
17. He made a recording with my mother of them singing Phantom of the Opera.
18. He forgot to ask my mom's dad if he could marry her until after he'd already proposed.
19. He married my mother on his birthday. He still says that she's the best birthday present he ever got.
20. He fathered ME! (Nice work, Bill!)21. When I was a baby, my dad used to lay me over his arm while he played Nintendo.
22. He had such cool knick-knacks as a skeleton named Patrick and a hanging model of the starship Enterprise.
23. He made lots of really funny home movies that we still laugh about today.
24. He once dressed up as a Klingon to go to a party with my mother.
25. He got really depressed about his 30th birthday - so we threw him a funeral.
26. He once caught me by the ankle as I was falling out a two-story window. Without him, you would not be reading this blog.
27. When I was six years old he used to call me from work with questions like, "How do you spell 'circus'?"
28. He used to juggle my toys for me. I was so impressed, I knew that I wanted to be able to juggle just like my dad. I practiced for many years and finally managed it.
29. He gave me my baby blessing, baptized me, and confirmed me. I'm really grateful for that, even now.
30. When I was in high school, he used to make fun of me because I hardly ever went on dates. Not that he was one to talk.
31. He is a man who is more respectful toward children than almost anyone else I've ever met.
32. He is outrageously funny, and everyone loves him.
33. He laughs at every lame joke in every movie, not matter how many times he's seen it.
34. He thinks the Jedi all are liars. He fully supports the Sith.
35. He is incredibly clever and can write songs at the drop of a hat. (Granted, they're rather cheesy songs, but who doesn't like those?)
36. He is good-hearted and looks after our neighbors (particularly the nearly-deads.)
37. He has a great voice and a great laugh and great eyes and a great beard.
38. He has a Goofy-like ability to mess things up without getting killed. His accidents include, but are not limited to: jumping onto a moving treadmill with a two-month old baby, cooking cardboard into the bottom of his pizza, trying to blast a radiator cap into his face, trying to burn down our house on Christmas Eve, and trying to get himself electrocuted at least four times.
39. He is a really good conversationalist whenever I need him.
40. He loves his family more than anything in the world. EVEN his dvds.41. A lot of my current habits are inspired by him: the way I make strawberry milk, my religious caretaking of books, and my insane dancing skills.
42. Some of my favorite memories of him are times when he let me come in and lay down when I was sad, and we watched one of his favorite movies together, just the two of us. (FYI, this happened just last November).
43. He is my dad, and I love him to tears. I hope he knows how much he means to me.



LOVE YA DAD!

Happy birthday.