Dad

My dad is the best. He’s probably one of the most resilient, smart, godly, hard-working and sweet people on the planet.

Bringing my twin sister and me home from the hospital as my older sister (right, a toddler at the time) named us “Booboo” and “More Booboo” to tell us apart.

Definitely one of my favorites. Are you having trouble telling Guinevere and me apart yet!?

The whole crew. He was busy with five kids and running a business, but was always there all of the things we needed.

He taught us how to work hard, earn money and take care of it. Here he is the day after a weekend at the market in NYC letting us “count” fistfuls of money. He instilled in us the value of hard-earned money enough to trust us as little kiddos to be respectful of thousands of dollars laying on the floor while he slept. Maybe he was sleeping with one eye open. Too funny…

He and my mom took us on lots of wonderful family trips over the summers and many trips to Florida in the winter to escape the long New York winter. Here we are at the Grand Canyon on our multi-week “out West” road trip. I will never forget that trip! 🙂

One of the Florida trips, playing in the ocean.

As we got older, Dad attended probably thousands of sporting events, concerts, birthday parties…everything. He helped us build about 10 tree houses, loaned us his power tools, helped us take care of all kinds of pets – dogs, cats, horses, chickens, etc.

I was a gymnast for much of my childhood and teenage years and he even built me a balance beam to practice with at home.

He built our home with his own two hands and let us “help” him build on an addition to that house when we were young. 

We had a lot of crazy friends and sleepovers that I’m sure he and my mom just loved…we were quite a handful, all five of us! We usually could be found running around the woods around our house, sneak attacking his greenhouse employees with water balloons or super soakers and bringing tree branches (probably full of bugs) into the house to put on “shows.” There were lots of trips to Long Lake when we were little to stay at Papa’s cabin. Dad always went up with us when he could but usually couldn’t get away from the business, Northern Borne Greenhouses.

Many summers with cousins and friends in Long Lake, NY.

During those years there were hundreds of trips with dad to New York City to the Union Square Greenmarket, restaurant deliveries, all kinds of business with the hydroponic greenhouse my parents owned and operated. Dad always tried to get in at least one fun thing after a long day of work at the market, whether it was a trip to the many sights in NYC, Broadway shows, shopping, everything, we did it!

Dad had so many regular customers at the market that loved the produce so much. It really was the best and to this day I’m extremely picky about my produce!!! We learned how to work hard, handle money, have great customer service and how to run a business.

High School graduation from Argyle Central School. Can you tell us apart?! 🙂

When we all got to college (at one point there were four of us in college at once, yikes!) Mom and dad never had a lot of money but always did what they could to help us through school. But the strong work ethic he taught us early on is what really made it work.

There were MANY, MANY long drives to Florida, Boston, North Carolina..etc…we all went to school in far away places. My parents never complained and enjoyed the little trips with us. Lots of airport pickups, road trips and fun family trips along the way as we all went through college.

After a hard time that led to leaving the business behind to move onto a teaching career, we still made trips to the city. Dad was even so brave to don his “Bush/Cheney” hat in NYC. In the picture with him is “Doogie,” our best family dog ever. Dad’s best buddy, especially when we had all moved out.

One of the many trips heading to Florida for school. A stop at Josh’s golf course in NC.

I spent some time in Colorado in college and came home with a special surprise for my parents, hehe.

This handsome young gentleman from Kentucky. 🙂 I can’t say that dad was immediately a fan, but it did not take long. 🙂

Dads just want to protect their daughters, but Jeff passed the dad test with flying colors.

About to walk down the aisle to Jeff. If it weren’t for having such an awesome dad I don’t think I ever would have found such an awesome husband! Thanks, dad, love you!

Happy Father’s Day!!!!