. . . happy valen~jack~izona day . . .

. . . it's a

well-blogumented fact

that my dad shares his birthday

with st. valentine . . .

. . . well ~ he also shares his birthday

with arizona . . .

. . . arizona was

a fifteen-year-old state

when my dad was born . . .

. . . arizona celebrates

one hundred years of statehood

today . . .

. . . my dad would have been eighty-five . . .

. . . arizona is alive and going strong . . .

. . . i miss my dad every day . . .

. . . it's always been easy

for me to remember

arizona's statehood day . . .

. . . dad's birthday {the 14th of february}

+

the address of the house i grew up in {1912} . . .

{i felt surprisingly stalker-ish taking this drive-by photo

of the house that built me}

. . . i loved seeing the orchid tree

planted by my dad . . .

. . . our old mailbox . . .

. . . the carport . . .

. . . the used bricks . . .

. . . just thinking about

this state i was born in . . .

. . . i've been on this earth

for six hundred forty-one months . . .

. . . and except for nine months

in california

{my dad taught school there one year when i was a baby}

and sixteen months in provo

{i was so happy to leave!}

~ i've lived in arizona all my life . . .

. . . i love you, dad . . .

. . . and i love you, arizona . . .