Here's to you, Dad.

Of phrases far too seldom uttered, one especially comes to mind at the moment, despite the 3000 miles we've put between us.

Dad, you rock.

For all that we yell, and cuss, and fight, and cry - to know that I have your support during the times I question the validity of every last thought and action that I take in this misguided trajectory I call life, it gives me a confidence not even the most brutal of rejections and pitfalls can shake.

Thanks for loving me despite the vices, despite the cursing, the profanities, and the men. Thanks for the stories, the wine, the terrible language. Your confidence reminds me that no man can ever judge me without first valuing me or treat me like a doormat without so much as expressing an ounce of love.

Dad, without you, I'd be nothing more than a simpering, mewling, helpless woman - and while that may be what some find desireable - it's not what will become of me. You make me strong. You keep me original.

You rock.