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So the other day, my husband decided to clean out the girls' bedrooms. These tend to get pretty messy because 1 - they're teenagers, and 2 - they're not here all the time. (And, to be fair, 3 - they have a little brother who likes to burrow through all their stuff.) He started with Emily's; I came in about halfway through to help. Among what we uncovered - old school assignments (a great story about birds named Helen and Phill, called "Uh-Oh"), photographs, stickers and of course a ton of clothes. Some of it dates back several years, but some of it seemed brand-new. Indeed, I came across a couple of things I gave her from Christmases of yore that still had tags on them. Which goes to show that fashion can be hit-or-miss when it comes to teenagers.  Who knew the "Life is Short and So am I" T-shirt wasn't hip? I thought it was funny. Anyway, we had just come across a pair of what I thought were awesome shoes, still in the box, and Dad was starting to get frustrated. Then I pulled this purple journal off a shelf. Amid sketches, a grocery list, a rare gripe about her sister (apparently Hannah was hogging the video games that day), there was this little item from 2002:

"A dad is more than someone who teaches you to bunt, hit, or catch a ball. A dad loves you know matter what you do. He rents movies, eats popcorn and loves you. A dad tells you about history, science, math and other subjects. A dad is someone you can love more than anything."

"Well, okay," said a misty-eyed Joe. "She can throw her stuff wherever she wants."