because my dad raised me right

i'm pretty crazy for the most part. i have a lot of cockamamie ideas and enough opinions for everyone i know times ten. i eat too much, sleep too late, and i rarely care about things i probably should care about, but if there's one thing that's certain, i love music. love. more than love.

(of course, you know this. i say it all the time. i can't help it if i have a lot of feelings about music, aight?)

anyway, on the way over to see my pop on his big day, i decided to listen to the music that he loves. before i knew it i was sobbing to crosby, stills, & nash's "helplessly hoping." we're talking full on sobs. initially alarming, yes, but once i dug into the feelings a little deeper, i realized i was just feeling indebted to my dad for raising me right.

so incredibly right.

raising me with the vinyls of...

and

and

and

and

and, most importantly,

i am literally the luckiest 23-year-old music junkie because i was raised by a father that loved music. that played a 12-string guitar. that sounded out "bridge over troubled water" on the piano and let me listen to The Who as loud as i wanted.

that later supported me as an eleven-year-old wannabe violinist. that took me to lessons every thursday at 4 and came to every single recital i ever had beaming with pride. and later supported me when i wanted to take guitar lessons, too. that's a lot of lessons and a lot of money. and he did it.

he did it because he loves music. and i was lucky enough to have a dad that loved me enough to instill that love in his crazy, free-spirited daughter.

so dad, i know you don't really read this, but if you just so happen to read it by some silly happenstance, i love you. and i can't thank you enough for allowing me to be the person i am today because of all of the incredible music you gave to me at such a young age. i bet you'll never really know how much it means to me, but it does.

it meant so much to me that today i sobbed when "helplessly hoping" came on. i mean, who does that? apparently i do.

maybe someday we can listen to those albums again and break out the 12-string. i'm sorry i took it for granted when i was young. i guess i had no idea how lucky i was to have such a sweet dad.

i know now, though.

happy fathers day.