Well today is my father's birthday. Every year we would celebrate by decorating the tree!! We could never do it the day before or the day after, it must be on dad's birthday!! Tradition!!
Dad was a big kid at heart. A big bully at times, but a big kid most of the time. He had a twinkle in his eyes that spelled "Mischief". I guess that is where I get it from. I am the pesty practical joker that annoys everyone!! Dad was too. Poor mom, no wonder she drank!!! Our parents weren't perfect, but they did the best they could with what they had. We were raised in love, and that is what matters most. Mom become alcoholic and in my teens she was getting pretty bad. I couldn't wait to move out on my own, which I did when I graduated from high school. a whole two blocks away, but I was a responsible adult now, and I could party every night which I did!! I showed her, huh? My story will come later.
Back to Dad's birtrhday. I now decorate early in December so I can enjoy the festivities at my leisure without feeling rushed to get things done! But on the 18th I sit back and reminisce about my early childhood and the memories of dad. He was my hero. I wrote him a love letter when he was in the hospital with a broken hip a year before he died. I told him how much he meant to me and how much I loved him, and how lost I'd be without him!! I told him he was the man in my life and I haved searched and searched, and could not find a man to fill his shoes! He was such a handy man!! He made bookshelves, our bedroom furniture out of orange crates, he gardened, clam digged, fished, hunted, fixed things around the house.
If you still have your father and have not told him what he means to you, do it now!! He will be gone before you know it, and you won't have another chance.
Yes, I have tears in my eyes right now because I miss him dearly.
He would've been 84 today. Happy Birthday dad, I love you!!
