78 is my dad's number today - YAY

So today my dad is turning 78.  What an awesome big number.  So many fun memories ... so many lekker places we have gone on holiday, so many special weekends together.  We have had meals together in so many places, seen so many shows together .... remember the Follies?  And the Angus Steer? And football at Callies - cheering me at Pilditch as I finished the ten gazillion km race ... about 2 days after I started running it ..... all those galas you supported .... the fantastic cappuccinos that you churn out on your machine when we visit, the drawer that has a neverending supply of biltong and Lays.  The dried peaches that I like only when they are rock hard, the lebkuchen when Christmas arrives, the hunting for Easter eggs in the garden ... even though we are all grown up now.   Each year we try see who can find the most bizarre hiding place.  Always listening to Silent Night before we open our gifts on Christmas Eve.  Board games with the kids .... you are a Thirty Seconds Addict and you have more newspapers still to read than even I do.  You and mom have a social life that I aspire to and I know you are making a concerted effort to spend our entire inheritance .... a family joke that amuses you and us no end.  You spoil the kids rotten and visits are much enjoyed because they always come with 2 fun things .... board games and prawns and just as fun are the visits to the sea - full of outings and fun times.  I remember going to the sea with you as well ... and you and me swimming out so we could be the two that were the deepest in the sea ... and you would eat 6 grenadilla snowball icecreams ..... and those rides on the rollercoaster ... the only person who would go with me. Remember your bday when we got you the hot air balloon ride?  You were so excited and that made us really excited.  I also inherited your love of watching TV till late and we even got a pair of headphones for this.  You also like rollmops just like me and eating the chocolate Dr Oetker pudding as long as you only eat it with a teaspoon and from the side .... nicely.   Just like chocolate ice-cream ... remember the awesome chocolate icecream cones we had at the Leaning Tower of Pisa?  The best ice-cream in Italy!! And when you blew the horn in Austria ..... whahaha with your serviette attached to your pants!!  And then there was Paris where we spent no time in the shops and all our time trying to buy tickets on a public holiday whahaha.  Then there was the time in the Kruger Park when the boot jammed and you packed all the luggage on the back seat along with me and my sussie.  What a fantastically crappy trip home.  And you have been ill .... so ill ..... and so brave.  I have watched you fight many very serious problems ... never moaning or complaining.  Remember the New Years Eve you were in Little Company of Mary and we decorated your entire room with streamers and balloons and Happy New Year signs.  I am sure there was glitter as well.  And how we laughed when I pulled the April Fools Joke on you by sending you a fictitious letter from the City Council saying you had to move the front house wall back 3 metres ... after living there for 30 years ...... and you got me back by sending me to the hardware shop for a long weight.  And they made me wait and wait and wait ... for long whahahahahahahahahahahaha.  

We are so blessed to still have you with us at 78 and still so fun of love and silliness.  Plus you can fix anything which is useful. 

Happpppy Biiiiirrrrthday Dad ... see you later 

till soon
c'est la vie 

xxxx