dear dad

thank you for being so weird. it used to embarrass me, but now i realize that sophie and i inherited a lot of it and it's the thing i'm most thankful for. no one should take themselves too seriously. thanks for the emails during the school year (to be text messages next?); they keep me sane and you always remind me that nothing, no organic chemistry test or bad week, is nearly as awful as it seems. thanks for going to my every soccer game (and frequent practices when you were the weird 'lurker' my new coaches sometimes thought was a child lurker). thanks for always making me push myself harder and thinking that i'm smarter than i am, you believe in me more than i probably ever will. and i never would have gotten as far as i have without that. i know you always want the best for me.