I met Rod, my father-in-law, in the late spring of 1998. He was this tall, bespectacled, distinguished, almost elegant gentleman standing in the doorway and I remember being somewhat intimidated by him. At first. Then he smiled and shook my hand (it was rather quite formal, I'm not sure if he remembers), and that was that. A year later he would become my family and honestly, the only father I've ever known. I know I know, so many melodramatic stories feature the 'only father I've ever known' tagline but it's the truth. He's been my 'dad' for almost 25 years.
Little did I know then how important Rod would be not only in my life but in my career as well.
Believe it or not, I wasn't always all that interested in current events and politics. IT'S TRUE. I was not born shaking my fist at the federal government and shouting, 'Taxation is theft.' I honestly didn't even 'own' my first lib or make one cry until my 30s. Unlike Rod who I am convinced was figuring out how to balance a budget and forming a plan to cut taxes before he entered kindergarten. I'm only sort of joking.
Rod has the best stories about his childhood, about getting a job where he set pins at a bowling alley. There might also be a story about his boosting a car when he was working at a gas station BUT we'll leave that one out. He went to basic (only missed Elvis by a few weeks, it's true), he was in Vietnam, there's this whole story about him and a bridge in San Francisco ... he has the best stories.
I honestly don't know if I would be doing what I do or writing what I write without Rod. It was 2010 before I got involved in politics and by then, Rod had already gotten a number of Wyomingites elected to office, including Governor Dave Freudenthal who was ironically a Democrat. Keep in mind that a Wyoming Democrat would be a Republican in any other state. Rod was a pillar, if you will, of Wyoming politics and state government, and in the best way. When I was at the State myself a few years later, people would assume I was his daughter since we share the same last name. 'Oh NO,' I'd say, 'He's my father-in-law,' and then I'd listen to them talk about how they knew Rod and share stories about working with him.
People always have a 'Rod' story.
Rod was always very supportive of every job I had HOWEVER, when I started working here at Twitchy he became my biggest fan ... and I loved it. To this day, I will include 'Nancy Pe-loser' because he said it once; I like to include things and jokes he will understand are meant for him. It's sort of like having a parent read your work at school every day, and then proudly putting it on the refrigerator, although this is a computer screen but you get what I mean. And while I spent many years looking up to him and his knowledge about government and politics and asking him questions, now he sometimes asks ME what -I- think and you guys, that's the coolest thing ever. That this giant of man, this conservative champion if you will, cares enough about me and what I think to ask.
As I write this, Rod is in the hospital and our family has made some tough choices. Even now, I know he will read this (he's an avid Twitchy reader), and I hope he knows how much he has always meant to me, and always will. I hope he knows that no matter what, I will keep writing for him, and I will keep telling jokes that only he would get. And I will smile knowing it's our little joke.
