All About Daddy

I generally try to respect my husband's privacy as a non-blogger by not revealing much about him to the world wide web. But since tomorrow is his birthday, I am breaking my own rules. In honor of the number of years he has spent on this Earth, 38 random things about Daddy:

1. He was born on 'a cold Wintry night' in Atlanta, as his mother reminds him with a morning phone call each year on his birthday.
2. He is one of the few 'born and bred' Atlantans. He spent the first 18 years of his life there, leaving for four years at Washington & Lee University, before returning for medical school and residency at Emory. Twenty-seven of his first 31 years were spent in Atlanta.
3. He is the 5th generation of males to have his name (one of my sons is the 6th generation).
4. He has green eyes, but the best part about them is the sparkle they always have.
5. And have I mentioned his dimples? They are a family trait that gets passed down somehow to the men bearing the same name. My little R is blessed with them to--and P has a touch of them.
6. As a child, his Mom's first two indications of what his vocation would be were the fact that he took clocks apart and put them back together for fun and his unusual compassion for sick animals. Her favorite story is when he begged her to let him keep a sick chicken from their farm under his bed, so he could nurse it all night long. My sweet man! (Unfortunately, the chicken did not make it...but his touch with patients has been much better since then.)
7. One of his best qualities is the amazing combination of confidence and tenderness.
8. He once had a supermodel as his patient. He is a huge advocate of patient confidentiality--the only reason I know is that I saw it on the news!
9. He was a great high school athlete, winning the 1989 Georgia state title in wrestling (160lbs).
10. He also played football and soccer...and college intramural rugby.
11. He has completed two half marathons without training ahead of time. (But not lately :-)
12. He doesn't run anymore thanks to a foot injury he acquired while roughhousing one afternoon with a fellow resident (while off duty).
13. His foot injury required him to stay off his foot for 6 weeks DURING his 4th year of residency. As a true surgeon would be expected to do, he kept working during this time by operating on one foot and even did rounds for a week in a wheelchair.
14. He gives the best advice of anyone I know.
15. He is a great bargain hunter, but takes forever to make a purchasing decision because he does such thorough research.
16. When he had free time, he was an avid fisherman--once holding the Costa Rican national record for a 309 pound yellow fin tuna.
17. He has also fished in Idaho, Montana, Alaska, Washington and lots of streams and rivers in between.
18. He spent a Summer in college taking science classes at the Citadel, just so he could justify being on the water in Charleston, SC.
19. He also did a surgical rotation in Idaho one Summer for the fishing.
20. He got his 'call' to medicine while serving on work crew at Young Life's Frontier Ranch in Colorado.
21. His Mom and Dad thought he was so innocent until we got married and I started revealing stories of things he got away with in high school. My husband did not think it was very funny.
22. If he were not a surgeon, I think he would be an entrepreneur.
23. His handwriting is horrible.
24. His voice is smooth. He actually had his own radio show in college. It was focused on country music.
25. He also had a snake in college. Thankfully, I did not know this when we were dating. I REALLY despise snakes.
26. Despite being an excellent science guy, he is an incredible writer, with a fabulous vocabulary but it takes him a LONG time to write things because he puts so much thought into them.
27. He wrote 12 line poem to propose to me--it took him a week.
28. Whenever he does anything involving tools around the house he wears a spelunking headlamp. Much more efficient than a flashlight!
29. He loves cheap haircuts--high and tights with #3 razors--and I love when he has a little curl in the back. He has finally agreed to wear a semi-mullet for me--despite the ridicule he gets on a regular basis from his coworkers.
30. He loves gadgets!
31. He is a great Daddy. What he lacks in quantity of time with our family, he definitely makes up for in quality of time.
32. He was towheaded as a child despite his dark brown hair as an adult.
33. In high school he picked up his prom date at 4:30pm for dinner in a tux, took her home, changed into his soccer uniform, played a game, redressed and returned for his date around 10pm and went to prom.
34. He has surprisingly great taste in interior decorating.
35. He once had a Summer job as a mental health technician at an inner city hospital. I think it prepared him for life with me.
36. He did not drink in college, yet led an inpatient detox unit briefly after college.
37. He saved himself for marriage.
38. His wife is madly in love with him and SO grateful for the man of God he is!
Happy Birthday, Honey!