How do you know when you are well liked? My son-in-law, Bill, found out last weekend. My daughter planned a surprise 40th birthday party for him and he was happy to see all his family and friends. How she did it without him catching wind of one word is beyond me. With three little boys at home, lots of family, and plenty of planning and shopping, one would think something would have been leaked.

Bill is one of those guys that is easy to like. He is patient and easy going. He has lots of friends and helps lots of people. But the most important people in his life are his family, especially his wife, Karin, and their three sons, Aaron, Andrew and Austin (the A-team).

Here are some examples of how special Bill is to those three boys. Karin gave the boys a couple weeks of heads up about the party in case they wanted to make or do something special for Bill for his birthday. She made suggestions such as making a card, writing something for him or singing for him. Austin immediately knew that he was going to make something for his dad. He made a beautiful poster all by himself (first grader). On it he wrote,

I O U one hole day with me.

He then drew a Steelers emblem on the poster and told his mom, "I want to take Daddy to a Steelers game. Just him and me." We got a chuckle out of his spelling above but it makes the poster even more precious.

Aaron, our writer-illustrator-artist, wrote his thoughts about what he liked about his dad. So special and hand picked were his thoughts that he chose not to share them publicly with the crowd. He said, "There are some things on there that just Daddy needs to read." How special is that? There is a very close bond between Aaron and his dad.

Andrew hesitated at first when Karin suggested that he sing for his dad at the party. Then after thinking about it for a short while, decided that he would sing and knew just the song. Andrew is a big fan of Keith Urban. He said, "Keith Urban has a song and it is called, "A Song for Dad". I'll learn that and sing it to Dad.

The crowd including all the children were dead still and quiet while Andrew sang the entire song for his dad. Toward the end of the song he turned completely toward Bill, who had gotten down to Andrew's level by this time, and sang directly to him. You can tell by the looks on their faces how important each is to the other.

Below is one of the stanza's of the song's lyrics:

The older I get
The more I can see
That he loved my mother and my brother and me
And he did the best that he could
And I only hope when I have my own family
That everyday I see
Oh I hope I see
I hope everyday I see
A little more of my father in me 

When Andrew left the floor after singing he was choked up and holding back his emotions. I asked him if he was okay and told him how great he did. He said, "I'm okay. But don't you think that song is a little sad? It made me feel sad." 

That's the kind of Dad and man that Bill is. Caring, gentle, patient and helpful. He has his priorities straight and his head on right. We are so lucky to have him in our family.