Dear Dad,

This is probably one of my favorite pictures of you and me. For the first time in my life, I was finally on my own and working a real job and having to take care of my car myself. I was miles and miles and hours and hours away from home and feeling rather grown up.

But, boy, was I ever glad to see you.

I think you have been there for every big event in my life. I don't remember the early years so much, but I know you were always there cheering me on at ballgames and letting the coaches know when they led me astray. You watched me graduate from high school after spending all those years circling my grades with your ink pen and lecturing me on life. You visited me in basic training and managed not to laugh too hard at those awful glasses Uncle Sam made me wear. 

You walked me down the aisle.

There are times when I wonder why we have the struggles we do in this life. Sometimes it feels that life is so unfair, that other people will always have more, and that I'll never know what debt-free feels like. But then I take moments like this and think about all that I do have and suddenly I feel like I am the luckiest girl in the world, that I have more than other people dream about, and that the feeling of debt-free could never compare with the feeling of being loved.

I would be wanting if it were not for my parents.

Happy Father's Day, Dad. Tony and I don't exaggerate anything when we tell you how much you mean to us. I know you have your own struggles, but never doubt the kind of father you have been and still are today.

You are loved.