It’s Abe Lincoln’s birthday, which means it’s also my dad’s birthday.  We “had” to memorize Lincoln’s birthday in school so of course I remembered my dad’s!  Or maybe it was the other way around…??  We’ll go with that :-)

This was Christmas of 1987… don’t be jealous of my massive pink headband.

I remember his surprise 40th birthday party.  My guess is that we weren’t told until the day of just to be sure we kept it a secret.  My 9 year old self was pretty excited and I feel like there was a small group of us around the same age because I thought it would be quite fitting to put on a skit for the party.  A skit we’d seen at camp the previous summer.  Not much of it’s coming to mind now so please don’t ask me to put it on for you!  But, I do remember it was called “The Pain” and had to do with a daughter who had a pain in her side.  BUT, it kept getting reenacted because the skit was about doing a skit and the director kept yelling CUT! and asking for “more drama” or “more sadness” and it just kept getting more and more ridiculous.  I’m sure the adults were all like, “What. is. going. on??” (because you know they thought that way back in 1989!) But they were all very gracious and even clapped at the end.

I don’t have a picture on hand from that party, but I have some pretty fun memories.  We always gave my dad a hard time about “being old” and the grey hair he was getting (no worries, I have plenty of my own as punishment to remind me of those years of making fun of him!), so when he turned 40 we decorated everything in black and had the best Over the Hill surprise party we could muster!

It’s just strange to think that he would have been 64 today.  His oldest brother just celebrated his birthday yesterday and I’m so thankful for that side of my family and how much they remind me of my dad and life before he passed away.  Sometimes it’s hard to remember life WITH him, but I know I wouldn’t be where I am without the 14 years I did have with him.

Please don’t mind my big hair, or 90s dress, or that “look” on my face.  Because I love the look on my dad’s face in this photo!

So… happy birthday, Abe Lincoln (who would’ve been REALLY old!), and happy birthday, daddy!