One of my favorite things about my father is the way he laughs when he's really, really enjoying himself. Not the laugh that he has when he finds something amusing, or when he's laughing just to be polite, or when he's laughing because he finds something to be completely and utterly stupid, but the way he laughs when he's really, really, really having fun.
I see that laugh the most when he's around you, when he reverts back to being a young man, one who doesn't yet know the things that will steal his laugh bit by bit, but when he's just chilling out and having a beer with his best friend. That's my favorite laugh of his. And nothing brings it out more than being around you. Alcohol may make it louder, but there's an infectious boyhood energy that you two walk into when we're all together and to see it and experience it makes my soul do a happy dance each time, no matter how annoying you both can end up becoming as the night rumbles on.
Thank you for bringing out that laugh in him. Thank you for standing by us for all of these years, for caring the way you do, the way you always have. Thank you for your big Tony hugs and the way the world feels a little bit more safe when you're around. Thank you for being our family.
Thank you & I love you.