Yes, I was born on my father’s birthday and so, for all my life I have celebrated my birthday with my Dad.  I’ve heard some twins say that it’s not always easy to share birthdays, but I’ve loved having the same birthday as my Dad.

One tradition we started when I was ten years old was that we would wake up early on August 13th and go play a tennis match against one another.  It started out that the winner of the match would pay for breakfast, but when I started to beat my Dad, then it became “Loser pays” (funny how loving parents switch those rules).  We did this every year until I was in college and I loved it.

So, since I was in town, I borrowed some tennis racquets from my brother-in-law Wade and some shorts and shoes from my brother Joshua, bought some tennis balls, and knocked on my Dad’s door at 6 AM this morning.  He laughed when he saw me with the racquets and we went out and played a match for old times’ sake (neither of us have played in several years, so the rallies were not too long).

Happy birthday Dad and thanks for all the ways you’ve been there for me.