I Just Called To Say...I Love You

Today is my dad's birthday, so this post is for him.

Last week, I had to run to my parent's house for a quick little errand. My mom and dad live only a mere handful of blocks from us-- part of the reason we moved to our house 2 years ago. I love that we live close, we've become good friends and neighbors (it's so convenient to have someone you can call up and ask to borrow a cup of this or a scoop of that!). So, it wasn't really an unusual thing that I ran to their house last week.

So, I went to their house, did my little task and my dad came and checked on me, then went back to what he was doing. I went to see him and say good bye when I realized what he was up to!

My dad has very vast taste in music from Beethoven, Mozart, Debussy and Pachelbel to Yonni and Enya to The Jackson 5 and The Bee Gees to techno dance mixes. I have great memories of his music from when I was little where we would be sitting downstairs after dinner in a well-lit room listening to record after record of dad's most favorite tunes (which in turn have become some of our favorites!). My sister and I loved "The Tide is High" by Blondie so much, in fact, that in high school, whenever we were hard at work on a big paper and needing a new source of inspiration late at night, we would turn on that record and dance around the room.

Well, it just happened to be that I came to their house on just such a night as I remembered so long ago. Dad had his little box full of 45's and he was playing all the greats! Among my favorites were "Queen of Hearts" by Juice Newton, "Bette Davis Eyes" by Kim Carnes, "Everywhere" by Fleetwood Mac and the best of all, "I Just Called To Say I Love You" by Stevie Wonder. These are the songs of my childhood and the songs that make me so nostalgic to be back at home.

So, Dad, even though it's your birthday today, I take that night last week as a huge gift and blessing in my own life. Thanks, I needed that.

H*A*P*P*Y*B*I*R*T*H*D*A*Y, Dad!!! I love you!