The man, the myth, the legend

Hello again everyone! We’re almost to summer. It’s hard to believe how the days fly off the calendar the way they do. But here we are. Today I want to deviate slightly from the regularly scheduled content to bring you an ode, an homage if you will, to the best man to ever be in my life. My dad. He’s gone by many names: A, Mr. A, Uncle A, Professor Baldwin, Baldwin, and A-A-Ron. But to me, he’s always been Dad. And it’s so crazy sometimes to think that I’m the only person in the world lucky enough to call him that. My mom is amazing too - but I think she’d agree that dad deserves a little spotlight every once in a while.

If you know my dad in any capacity, you know that he is an unfailingly kind and gentle soul. He loves art and history and architecture. His mind is always swirling - the gears ever-turning endlessly in pursuit of the next great idea or invention. Yet his personal pursuits always come last - as doing for others never fails to be first on the list. “You do for family” he always tells me. And it’s as simple and poignant as that. But for him family stretches beyond the nuclear. It’s aunts and uncles and cousins. It’s the greater community - of which he has always been a pillar and a steward. Mending chicken coops, serving on town council, taking friend’s children on youth hunts and fishing tournaments, lending tools, building tree houses, donating art work, serving on the church vestry. I can only aspire to be so selfless. I hope one day I can be half the person he is.

When people think of a “girl dad” they often picture a dad getting his nails painted or sitting through a kid’s tea party. Now, you’d never catch me near Aaron Baldwin’s nails with polish, but that’s not to say we didn’t spend any time together growing up. The best part about being my dad’s daughter, was that he took me along to do all the things he was really passionate about. We went fishing. Took walks in the woods. Looked for Native American pottery. Let me paint and draw with him. Took me to see plays and musicals at Charleston southern. Brought me to museums. He even took me to the antiques roadshow once. And because he enjoyed those things already, so did I. It served to make me a well-rounded person and for that I am extremely grateful.

The thing most people don’t realize about A-A-Ron, is he has an incredibly sarcastic sense of humor. What most would probably describe as a biting wit. When he and I get together, it’s like a tennis match of jokes at each others expense. No one makes me laugh harder. That sense of humor has gotten me through some of the darkest times in my life - there isn’t enough good that can be said about that.

So I’ll leave y’all with some of my favorite Dad and Boog moments and memories (yes, he calls me boog. No, I don’t know why). Playing in the shrimp boat toy box he built me. When I was little and he’d help me get ready and sit me on his lap to put my sox and shoes on for me. When he wrote and illustrated little children’s books for us to read together. The times he pretended to be a robot to scare me. All the times I’ve called him crying and he’s talked me through it without getting angry or upset. The days we rode out into the woods at sunset to see how many ducks were flying home to roost. Every fishing tournament we did together. When he took me to work with him and let me paint and draw along side his students. Boogie boarding at folly beach. Making Jupiter grid 7 together. Eating at Cici’s pizza or ye old fashioned every time we went to Mt. Pleasant. Trips to “the hab.” And so so many more. I could never accurately articulate how blessed I am. I love you dad 💗 Thank you for everything.