Next best thing...

While having Cory on the other side of the planet has been trying on so many levels, I thank God I have the next best thing here to help me around the house - my Dad (well, stepdad, but if you know me, you know my issues with my "real"dad - so John, is it for me!). He has done so much over the last few months and really over my entire life - at least the 19 years he's been with my mom! I just wanted to give a GINORMOUS shout out to him! I'm not sure if he reads my blog, but I want the world to know how wonderful he is!!
John -
Thank you for everything you have done to keep me sane! For cutting our grass, multiple times. For laying the quarter round for our floors, even though it took way longer than it should have. For buying my flowers for the flower bed in front of the house. For planting said flowers in a bed that I thought was unplantable! For being willing to help my buy our new car and new lawn mower! For keeping the kids for a week straight while I worked and our house was in shambles from all the "renovating". For always being willing to come and help me with whatever "bee has gotten in my bonnett". For loving me as if I was genetically bound to you. For showing me that any man can be a father, but it takes a real man to be a Dad. For loving our kids as if they were your own. For spoiling us ALL rotten! For calming me down when my battery has died in the car, in the garage - even from 2 hours away! For sacrificing time with Momma, your wife, because I have to be at work at 7 and need to take a nap. For showing Reese the love of a man while Cory is away. For lovingly directing me in a different direction when I am heading down a wrong path. For loving me through my "troubled years" and knowing that I still am a bit "troubled" - and loving me anyway. For always giving me your honest opinion, while sometimes a bit brash - but always offering a way to fix what needs to be. For being a Dad, when you didn't have to be!
I love you more than words can say and I am so thankful that you chose us to be your family! Your neverending sacrifices and love have earned you the title of Dad in my life - now and forever. And while, at best, I am an over demanding, moody, self centered, opinionated, rebellious, spoiled rotten brat - I am and will always be your little girl! I love you and I hope that in someway, somehow, I make you as proud of me as I am of you! "Thank you" does my gratitude no justice. You are the greatest! And while you cannot replace Cory in our house, in our kids lives, or in my heart (not that you'd want to), you always have been and always will be the next best thing!