My mother did a cross-stitch for my grandfathers when I was three or four that said, “Any man can be a father but it takes a special man to be a Daddy.”  How true that is!

Today is Father’s Day.  Happy Father’s Day to all the daddies out there!

I’ve got a really, really, really, great Daddy.  I’ve put him through h**l and back over the years for very different reasons.  But he’s always there for me when I need him.  He gave me my love of music and if my boys turn out to be a tenth of the man he is, I will be ecstatic.  He’s a very awesome Grandpa, too!  He’s passing on his love of nature to Be-Bop and Rock Steady, taking them to the creek and through the nature trail to the lake whenever the boys visit and want to go down there.  Daddy, I love you with all my heart! 

My readers probably know how I feel about my J.  He’s my rock and he’s a great daddy to my boys.  You’re fantastic, J.

I’ve got other great daddies in my life.  My uncle B has been a really great role model for me my whole life and I love him dearly.  Rock Steady name is a variation of his, in fact. 

My father-in-law, Grandpa J, is another very great man and I am proud to be part of his family now.  I’m sorry we don’t live closer to him but I treasure the quality time we do spend together.

George, my grandfather on my daddy’s side, died in 1984 so I don’t remember a lot about him.  But I do remember that he had a really, really big garden and I remember that he grew strawberries.  I also remember him showing me the eggs in his birdhouse.  I remember he told really good stories.

I miss GaGa, my grandfather, a lot.  He died in 2007.  I thinK I inherited my good sense of navigation (and adventure, at least in driving) from him.  I love to get out and just drive around and take back-roads to places, even when I’ve never been there before; I think he did too.  GaGa would sit and talk with you about just about anything.  He was opinionated, that’s for sure, but he was interested in hearing what I had to say and what I thought about anything, too.  I wish I’d known him when he was younger but I’m very, very grateful for the time I had with him.  I spent a lot of time when I was in college sitting on the porch with him and I’m very glad I got to move back to Georgia when I did, because GaGa got to know Be-Bop when he was a baby.  He sure was proud of Be-Bop.  I’m fairly certain he was proud of me, too.  I bet he burst into tears of joy in Heaven the day Rock Steady was born.

Here’s Be-Bop and GaGa, from Be-Bop’s first Christmas in 2006: