Today I’d like to like to honor my dad, who is truly one of the most amazing individuals I’ve ever known. This man has been a stellar role model of compassion, responsibility and integrity, who continues to inspire me on a daily basis. I owe so much of who I am, and anything I may achieve in the future, to his love and guidance.

It’s a rare person (and a rare parent) who can seamlessly blend rationality and emotion, regulation and freedom, wish and possibility. He selflessly provided so much, yet taught me to take nothing for granted. From him, I learned to hope for great things…yet never balk at working hard to get them. I learned that love is not only words, but the genuine desire to make someone’s world a better place, honoring their needs with equal (if not more) importance than one’s own.

Dad, not a day goes by that I don’t appreciate the hell out of you! May I go forward in this world with the values you have taught me and make you proud…

(No, I didn’t make that cake/cookie)