Happy Birthday Daddy

 

 

Tomorrow is a day our family has been dreading, it's my dad's 71st birthday...his first birthday since his death on January 12th.

 

The last couple of months have been hard...REALLY hard. There isn't a day that goes by that I haven't thought about him and yearned to call him on the phone. I think that's what I miss the most, our daily talks. I really wish I could talk to him now about the whole North Korea thing, he'd be able to tell me everything I don't understand, tell me how real the threat is and if I should be concerned. My dad was like that, always up on current events, knowledgeable on every topic under the sun.  If I was worried about something, he'd tell me if my fears were justified. He'd help break it down and encourage me to view it from every side. Just the tone of his voice could calm me down and make me feel safe.  I knew as long as my daddy was near nothing would harm me.

 

Things have changed since his death, I've gotten a lot closer to my Caledonia family.  My sister Missy told me to start calling them when I would normally call dad.  I followed her suggestion and we speak on the phone or by text daily.  Sometimes we laugh together, sometimes we cry...but the thing that would make daddy happy is that we're getting through this TOGETHER. 

 

Daddy believed the only thing that truly mattered in this world was your family. Jobs come and go, friends and spouses may even come and go, but you should always be there to love and support your kin.  He use to tell me that it's okay to get mad at them, to bicker (although he hated fighting amongst us), but we had to make sure we kept the family love strong, because in the end your family is the foundation that keeps everything else stable in your life.

 

So tomorrow we will gather at my sister's house and we'll spend the day together, celebrating the life of the man we all loved most and I know in my heart my father will be there too.

 

Happy Birthday Daddy, I love you.