For my dad.

*msn: Slipping into mediocrity.. - Didn't know when I started, don't know how to stop, at first I screamed in silence, and then I just forgot.

I was going to write about religion and stuff (because this, along with racism, and homosexuality, is something which I always have a lot to say about) but I think that today is not the day.

No, today is Father’s Day, and family is, as it should be, above all else.

It’s funny how I spent the first 18 years of my life dying to get away, but now that I am, I wish I was home, and that I hadn’t wasted those 18 years.

Actually, no, it isn’t funny, it’s sad, but let’s not dwell.

So here it is, for my dad, who although will probably never read this, deserves the dubious immortality of print, the only kind I can give him besides my even more dubious memory.

This is just a simple thank you, dad;

For the music classes you forced me to attend, which took me 14 years to love.

For the Swiss rolls every Sunday after said classes to cheer me up.

For the cupboards full of stuffed toys – one for every time I fell sick. (I was a very unhealthy child.)

For the shoulder-rides at zoos – I never felt so tall. (and at this rate never will.)

For filling the house with songs from long-past years – they’re still my favourite kind.

For the lamest jokes I’ve ever heard which still make me laugh today.

For answering almost every question I ever had, patiently, without resorting to things like “Because God made it so.”

For helping me find the answers to the questions that you couldn’t.

For teaching me that crying doesn’t help, that being afraid of trying really only hurts myself, and to always, above all, be kind.

For showing me all the beauty in the world, and how to seek it out.

For every reprimand and punishment, not giving up on me, even when I wished you would. (I am stupid, yes.)

For reminding me everyday that I am loved, without saying a single word.

Perhaps one day I could do the same, but for now, simple words will have to do.

I could say thank you forever, and it would never be enough.

God bless you Dad (and Mum and Ee too).

Happy Father’s Day.