About my dad!

Hi everyone! Since it is Father's Day on Sunday, I wanted to let you know a few things about my dad. Here are some random tidbits:

He was born and raised in The Netherlands and moved to southern Cal when he was eighteen.

He met my mom at the local community college's international students club.

He doesn't sweat the small stuff. I like to think that I got this trait from him.

He is a shameless flirt! I have always found this so amusing. :)

He is extremely generous, patient, and is a truly happy and kind human being.

I was his first child and when I was born he thought I was the greatest thing since sliced bread.

EVERY time I see him he looks so dang happy to see me, as if it's been years! Although most of the time it's only been a few days.

He helped invent a "wine machine" that uses NMR technology to see if a bottle of wine is still good.

He is the smartest person I know.

Because of this, he doesn't see any rhyme or reason to being "fashionable" or always trying to say things in a politically correct manner.

He has the best stories!

Social graces are just not that big a deal to him, which has either embarrassed me, or made me laugh, countless times in my life.

When I was about ten years old, I was in love with visiting San Francisco. So, he took our whole family to hang out at Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39 almost every weekend over that summer.

He plays with my kids. And I mean, really gets right down on the ground and enters their fantasy world as they know it. He does this every time he is with them, even if he is exhausted.

He took two pre-teen and teenage soccer teams to Europe, TWICE.

I get many emails from kids he used to coach back in the day (they are now men, by the way) telling me how much they appreciate that my dad was kind, caring, and never degraded them, or made them feel bad in any way.

When he did coach, he always treated his WHOLE team to lunch at McDonald's when they had away games, much to my mother's chagrin!

Best of all, he loves me and my kids, unconditionally, with all his heart. I love him too, so much!
Happy Father's Day, Dad!