Happy Birthday Skip!
Friday, October 7, 2011 at 1:11PM
Skip Hellewell

This is Skip's daughter Brooke, hijacking Word of Wisdom Living for a minute to wish my dad a Happy Birthday! You might not be aware of the many hours he puts into this little site: researching questions, trying out recipes, exploring the aisles of the grocery store.. it's almost a full time job for him.

Why does he do it? Because he wants to share what he's learned about nutrition and living well, and because he likes to learn from all of you and your wonderful comments.

The photo above was taken for an article Martha Stewart ran this summer about our family reunion. I know when you see a photo in a magazine, you might assume things are just posed for the camera, but this photo rings true for me. My dad loves to share things. He loves to research and study and read, and make his own conclusions and then share his findings. (Okay, we might not do it with lanterns in the trees and coordinating quilts!)

All my life my dad has tried to teach me things. He's an engineer, so he's always trying to figure out how things work and how they can be done better. Growing up, he was the kind of dad who drew a lot of graphs, who asked a lot of questions, who would never just give me the "easy answer".

In college he would mail me articles he had read in the morning paper. Now he emails links he thinks I need to see and pulls me aside when I come over for dinner to tell me about the interesting story he heard that week.

For all these years it's just been his family who he shared with, and that's why I pushed him to start this blog, to share with a larger audience all the things I've been lucky enough to hear my whole life. I think he's doing a really great job, and I know my family is healthier because of his time and effort.

Happy Birthday Dad.

Leave a comment telling my dad one way this blog has helped you.. I think that would really put a smile on his face!

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