papa

harper loves her grandfathers. her grandpa and her papa. she knows that she has both of them wrapped around her little fingers. she gets all excited and wide eyed the minute we mention either of them.

tonight we had dinner with papa. since my mom flew out to d.c. this morning to be with my uncle and aunt, papa was solo. my sister and i promised my mom that we would keep an eye on him, so we invited him to dinner. michael also needed a running shirt for his 10k race on sunday, so we stopped at running fit and got papa a new pair of sneaks as well.

i love spending time with my dad. sometimes, his stories can go on and on and on, and we may push him to finish a little more quickly, and you always have those times when you say oh, dad. every child does. but to look back on his life and his accomplishments makes me proud to be his daughter. he's the president and ceo of a highly successful life insurance company, and he jumped a thousand hurdles to get to where he is now. he adores his wife and his family, and he tells us every chance he can how much he loves us and is proud of us. i've slowly realized over the years how important that is, and how he's helped me to become the person i am today.

it means the world that harper knows and loves her papa. she has so much to learn from such a knowledgeable, caring, genuine, strong and sentimental guy.

love you dad.

these photos are not the best. the lighting in the restaurant was terrible and i'm still playing around with my new lens, but i had to post these.