Happy 51st

Today my dad would have turned 51.  I just randomly realized that just now.  It made me start thinking of what I remember about him.  I remember that he used to call me his little tadpole J  I remember he had a yellow mountain bike and when my brother Kash was a baby he had a little seat on the back of it….we would all take bike rides together around the neighborhood which I loved.  We would go get ice cream after dinner, his favorite flavor was strawberry and I liked to copy him.  He used to have me pluck the gray hairs out of his head while we watched TV because he didn’t want to look old.  Every time he called he would say “Can I please speak to the beautiful Lyssa Marie?” and I would say “Yeeeeees J”.  We used to have long talks about life, he would give me advice about my future career (I wanted to be a lawyer at the time) and the importance of networking…which came in handy later J  He got me a credit card when I was 13 and talked about building a good credit history. He would talk about how great it would be if I went to UCLA and I could come live with him in his new house while I attended college (that commute would have atrocious!).  When I told him I was trying out for the cheerleading squad he said “No, all the cheerleaders I knew in high school were sluts” (DAD!!!).  He took me to eat Chinese food for the first time. In general, he always encouraged me to try new things.  He first taught me the phrase “Let’s play it by ear”, I can remember asking him what it meant, and now I say it all the time. And he was absolutely HORRIFIED that I was beginning to date boys.