First of all, My dad, David Barnes. The dad of two girls, he really took interest in things that my sister and I liked and that couldn't have been easy. He always made me feel special and important. When I was 8 or so I started to take interest in things that he liked, tools and music to be specific. He taught me everything I know about tools, he taught me how to identify each of the Beatles by there voices and WHY they sounded the way they did. (Something that I'm sure will come in handy some day.) He introduced me to Archie and the Fantastic Four, two of the best comics of all time. Now he's a grandfather or "Papa" as Lori calls him. And he is the only other person, beside Jorge and I, who's name she says. He walks up and she says "Papa". He's obviously still very special to us.
We love you Dad! Thanks for everything!
The next of course is Jorge. Everyday he impresses me more and more. He has taken to being a dad more than I could even have imagined. I am blessed to have them both. When she hears the garage door open she gets so excited and starts saying "Dada! Dada!" If she's playing in the living room and she hears the "click" of the key in the front door she stops what she's doing and runs to the hallway (sometimes falling over in the process, which is pretty funny) saying "Dada. Dada."
He is her hero! And she is his pride and "Joy"
This is my new favorite picture, taken by a friend at a church event. It's Jorge and Lori with our friend Ben and his son Ryan. To me it captures pure joy between everyone in the picture. Fathers and their kids, a relationship that is probably one of the most important ever, one that is SO important to me because of who my father was and is and who my husband is to our daughter.