today is the birthday of one of the greatest men i know. i have been so blessed to have this man's presence, knowledge, and hardwork in my home growing up. he has taught me countless things about life, school, and the gospel.
i remember as a child, not being able to fall asleep until he played the guitar and sang to me all of my favorite songs. but before every song, he asked me if i had talked to my Heavenly Father. i would always make it a point to run into my room right before him so that i could say a prayer, and be able to report to him that yes, i did speak with with my Heavenly Father. the relationship between God and I that was created from praying every night ever since i was in kindergarten is the foundation of my testimony. it is the first thing i turn to whenever i'm afraid or confused or sad. it is the best friend that never fails.
and all through middle school, he would watch Gilmore girls with me, over and over again because i was utterly obsessed. it was so much fun to share it with him, even though he definitely preferred Sons of Anarchy, who knows why.
he taught me to be selfless, although it's still a work in progress. he taught me how to manage my money (that one is definitely a lesson i need to review). he taught me that i could achieve anything with hard work.
he has an office in the back of the house, and if someone was trying to know him simply from his office, there would be too much to be able to tie together in a simple description of him. He has an elvis presley blanket (elvis's face and autograph appear on the blanket several times), along with a matching elvis poster. below that, countless numbers of photo albums filled with some of the most embarrassing pictures of my famiy and i (some of the ones posted today are from those very photo albums). below that is my favorite shelf: the more or less shrine to audrey hepburn. every movie she's ever starred in, in perfect condition and aboslutely off limits to anyone other than himself. audrey is his idol. there are many other things you would find in there, like a snake, three complete encylcopedia sets, a ridiculously large book on the mayo clinic (which he never went to or studied from), and a drawer dedicated to maps of places all over the world. he is more than well rounded.
last summer, i was flying home from utah on jetblue airlines. they have a tv on the back of everyone's chair, and the remote is on the armrests. the man next to me had his arm on my armrest, and he had unknowingly turned the brightness completely down on my tv. i couldn't see anything. so instead of asking him to move his arm, i just decided on reading a book the entire flight.
when i related this story to my dad, he looked me in the eye and said, "Shera, don't be afraid of people."
i could not put that thought down. it is obvious that people are very different, physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. but what we can't seem to figure out is why we allow this to shape how we communicate with one another. we do everything we can to hide the parts of ourselves that we have decided are strange or unacceptable. we believe that everyone else is normal, and we are the weird ones. what we fail to recognize is that everyone is strange. everyone has trials. everyone needs a friend.
i would hope, that if my arm was on someone else's armrest, they would let me know. and i have a pretty good feeling that the man who disrupted my lifetime movie, would have said the same thing.
we don't need to be afraid of people.
and that was one of the most important lessons i have learned from my father. happy birthday dad. i love you.
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