A very special birthday

Today is a very special someone's birthday. I always knew he was special, but I never REALLY knew until I started thinking about it a few days ago when I was trying to figure out what to get my Father-in-law for his birthday. I thought I had all these great ideas but then I realized that I wasn't so sure what Pat might like after all.......

Every year Pat plants a HUGE garden. So I thought maybe some fancy gardening tool or some nice gloves, but then I realized......I'm not sure if he actually likes gardening. Does he always do it because he loves putting in a long day of work at the shop and then heading straight to the garden for hours is much fun or does he do it because we always say we want to plant one, and then he ends up doing all the work so we can enjoy the fresh veggies. Either way I've never heard him complain.

In fact I've never heard him complain about ANYTHING. Not even when Ben dumps a pitcher of water on his head in the middle of a dinner when guests are over. Not even when our dog (which he has graciously taken care of for the last year, feeding, walks, treats, love, you name it) chewed up his deck, dug holes in his beautiful landscaping and put yellow spots all over the lawn.

I started to realize that just about everything Pat does is service for someone else. Playing with the grandkids so the mom's can relax. Working to feed all those hungry mouths that show up at his dinner table multiple times a week. Walking the dog, gardening, Yard work, moving kids from house to house, indexing on Sunday afternoons, teaching the Sunbeams in church, holding a fussy baby. As the list grew and grew I could only think of a few things that this amazing man actually does for himself!!

So I thought we could get him a book, Pat is very well read and knows a lot of stuff. I could picture him in his easy chair reading, But I decided against it because we ALWAYS get him books for every occasion.

Then I thought about a puzzle and some nuts, but then my mind wandered to the closet full of puzzles that seem not to get enough attention as it is, perhaps because no one every wants to do puzzles with him.

Finally I settled on our standard gift for the year, a camelback water bottle. I love mine, everyone we have bought one for seems to like theirs, it seemed like an ok gift. But I've decided to keep my eyes and ears open, because this great guy deserves an awesome gift every year, and next year, I'm going to be ready.