My Daddy is my best friend, confidant, protector, # 1 fan, favorite teacher and a first class driving instructor. Really, he and I are sooooo much alike in too many ways. He’s an animal lover like me and will do anything for any animal. He’s always worked his butt off for our family and always shows compassion and understanding. He’s a great cook and has a fantastic sense of humor. He and I were always close (his nickname for me is Pal) and after my mother died and after I moved out we became the best of friends. He’s always there for me and I try to be there for him, too. After my divorce from my first husband, Daddy would listen to me complain and let me cry on his shoulder. He really helped me through that better than any of my girl friends. I love to hear his stories about when he was a kid and all about his family when they were all young, I find it fascinating. I find him fascinating.

My mother was a truly special person. I grew up in a fairly small town and my mother owned a café there. Everywhere we went she saw someone she knew. She always remembered everyone’s name and never met a stranger. She was a bright, happy, cheerful woman, who I never saw cry or even get too very angry. She would give a stranger the last dollar she had, if they needed it. I remember once when we were hurting financially for several months and my Mom found 5 $20.00 bills on the ground outside of the drugstore. She was upset for a week about it. She kept thinking that maybe it was that persons last $100.00 and that they needed it to but their medication (since she found it outside of a pharmacy), even though we desperately needed it, she refused to spend it for almost a month. She put an ad in the paper, but no one ever claimed it. I still miss her so.

Basically, I had/have the best parents anyone could ask for. They taught me so many good things that I carry within me today.