In it to win it...

That of course is my Father's outlook on life. It may or may not have rubbed off slightly on his daughters. I will let you all be the judge of that. Well, as the day begins were we honor our fathers, I would be lacking if I failed to give a shout out to the man who has helped me move more times than anyone ever should.

It is no secret that I am a pretty big fan of my Dad. (Even if he did pick me up in the 7th grade from a youth group function wearing my cheerleading practice shorts...I'm only slightly scarred.) If you were to look at me and all my 5'0" ness and then see my Dad with his 6'0" super sized neck self, you would wonder... Are they related? Do they have anything in common? Well.... to answer your question. Yes. We are related and we both love college students. Well, in very different ways. I like to help students grow developmentally. My dad likes to destroy them. That's close, right? His destructive methods of choice- Racquetball and Mario Kart. Many of you have heard of the "Legend of Dagreene" (yes, I just dropped his fantasy league name). You have either lost to him at Mario Kart or watched him destroy someone. We are going to have to start paying people to play him, as we are running short of willing volunteers.
But, few are aware of his mad racquetball skills. (For a visual, think of the time that he tackled Danielle while playing Ultimate Frisbee.) My dad has been playing racquetball once a week for over 20 years. In recent years, he obtained a membership to USF's recreation facilities. I originally thought that it was because they had air-conditioned courts and they were close to the Emergency Room. (Seriously, old men playing racquetball late at night... an ER is crucial.) But I recently have come to realize that it is so he can destroy the random freshman who thinks it would be fun to challenge the old guys. I can just picture fratty little freshman walking back to his residence hall hanging his head in shame. Hey random freshman- Don't lose heart, we have ALL been there!

While my Dad may not be the most gentle man out there....

He does have a super sized heart. For the man that wanted boys like crazy and thought that girls were "2nd best", he sure does know how to raise a daughter. He doesn't know this (well, he will now that he reads my blog) but, fathers with young daughters often ask me what my Dad did. I simply say... He played with us. He was never too busy to play.

He even woke up at a crazy early hour to cheer on the Cheetah Girls as we ran our half marathon. Seeing my Dad screaming like a madman at 7am as we ran through downtown Tampa would bring a smile to anyone.

Happy Father's Day to the best Team Mom ever!