My dad has loved my mom since they were 14. They live a true love story. Above all else I have always known that my dad loves my mom, and loves all of us. My dad is funny. He embellishes stories like no one I've ever known, but in doing so, he always makes the story much better than it was to begin with. My dad has a wonderful imagination. My entire life he told Christmas stories to us on Sunday evenings. Stories that he created. In the summer we'd listen to his Christmas stories while munching on pan-popped popcorn and drinking Kool-aid. In the winter we'd replace the Kool-aid with my mom's homemade cocoa. It was magical. Now my girls get the magic from him when they hear his stories.
My dad is a believer. In God, in goodness, in doing what is right. He believes in being charitable and literally giving the coat off his back. He believes in Santa, and has always wanted to be "the real Santa" for his real job. My dad believes in wonder and magic and good ideals. He can be crass at times, and loves to let loose with "potty talk" when the situation calls for it, but he is loveable anyway!
My dad loves to give everyone a good scare often. He has repeatedly cheated death with his health and by just plain living. But he always attributes his miracles to the mercy of God and the enduring faith and pleadings of my mother. He is cheating death again as I write. I'm so grateful to still have him as my dad and as the head of our family. I'm grateful he knows and understands that no one is perfect. He has shown me what unconditional love is and with my beautiful, sweet mother made a happy, if not perfect home for my sisters and I to grow up in. I'm grateful my Heavenly Father blessed me with such wonderful earthly parents. I realize what I have in them.
Elder Summers
This is my family in 1988!
Me and my sisters circa 1984
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