Do you remember when I was five or six
\nAnd you\u2019d come home from such long trips
\nAnd I\u2019d follow you up to watch you unpack
\nSo glad to have my Daddy back
\n(Always hoping for some souvenir of some sort
\nEven if it was just snacks from the airport)
\nAnd you\u2019d tell me all about where you\u2019d been
\nAnd folks from the plane you\u2019d likely not see again
\n(Of course, I could tell they all liked you
\nSince you are so honest and friendly and true)?<\/p>\n
Do you remember when I\u2019d come steal your lap
\nAnd not just when I needed a nap;
\nCollege football games on the television?
\nIf you were watching, there was no decision –
\nI\u2019d sit down, watch, listen and learn
\nNo matter what age or worldly concern,
\nIt was with you whom I wanted to spend
\nWhat time we found, every night and weekend
\nYou\u2019re still the greatest man I know
\nSo, on your birthday, I have to show<\/p>\n
The world and you, Dad – James Monroe –
\nThat no matter where I or you may go,
\nNo matter how high or how terribly low,
\nFor you, I\u2019d make chocolate-chip cookie dough,
\nBake dozens for you, every week-or-so;
\nRead the works of David Thoreau;
\nLearn to capture life like you do in photos;
\nBless the world with as much love as you bestow….
\nAnd more, Dad. Because everything I hold dear
\nExists since you\u2019ve countered, in so many ways, what I fear.<\/p>\n
You give me and so many such hope
\nSuch that, even through struggles with the breadth of this scope,
\nI know you\u2019ll be there.
\nI can put off despair.
\nFor me, it\u2019s the small things that matter more than all other.
\nI learned that from you, Dad, and from your love of my mother,
\nFrom your love of us all:
\nThat no matter how great the feeling, or small,
\nI can live. I can love. I can be.
\nThank you for all that you\u2019ve loved in me.<\/p>\n
Your daughter,
\nMeri<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Do you remember when I was five or six And you\u2019d come home from such long trips And I\u2019d follow you up to watch you unpack So glad to have my Daddy back (Always hoping for some souvenir of some sort Even if it was…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1098,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[3580,3442,2742,10],"class_list":["post-65009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-marathon-poem","tag-2020hr4","tag-2020poetrymarathon","tag-dad","tag-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1098"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65009"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65009\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65097,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65009\/revisions\/65097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}