Happy Father's Day!!

Born July 11, 1927 Died August 31,1998

Below is a photo of my Uncle Dick on the left and my Dad on the right, when they were just little tykes. I love this photo because it is one of the only photos that I have of my father when he was just a little boy and it is, also, a photo of two very important men in my life.

My parents divorced when I was only two years old and it was a difficult divorce. I didn't really grow up knowing my Dad at all. My Uncle and my Aunt tried very hard to keep us connected, but I really didn't get to know my Dad until much later in life. I am very grateful that my Dad and I finally got a chance to make our peace with each other.

The photo below is a photo of my sister Nonie, who passed away when she was only 28 years old, and my Dad who reconnected with us shortly after I had my first daughter.

The next photo is of my Dad when he came to visit my husband and I when we were still newlyweds.

The photo below is my Dad with his arm around me when I was probably not even two years old yet.

When my sister passed away my Dad disappeared from my life one more time. She was the oldest and was the one most hurt when my parents divorced. I was a mama's girl and I was just too little to think too much about it. That doesn't mean I was unscathed, I just didn't have to deal with the scars of going without a Dad in my life until I was much older.

I remember visiting my Dad when I was probably only five, laying on the couch with him and telling him I wanted to marry him when I grew up. It was very memorable because he said "you don't want to be married to me , look what you'd have to wake up to every morning!" and then he took his false teeth out and laughed and laughed! I laughed too. Even with my childhood hurt I had memories of my Dad's great sense of humor.

After my sister died we went another twenty something years without seeing each other, until one of his sisters passed away and we saw each other again at her funeral. It was very uncomfortable. I had initiated reunions in the past and I just wasn't planning on trying to make this relationship work one more time. I remember my Uncle (the one in the first photo) coming out in the garden and telling me I needed to get the chip off my shoulder and talk to my Dad. That really upset me, because I didn't think I had a chip on my shoulder, I just wanted a father who wanted to relate to me as much as I wanted it. My Uncle must have gone in the house and told my father to come out and talk to me, because within a few minutes my Dad appreared in the garden and sat down next to me. He was very nervous. He had picked an orange off the tree from where we were sitting and he proceeded to tell me how much he loved my sister and I. He was doing his very best not to blame my mother and just explain his feeling of loss in not having a close relationship with my sister and I. As he spoke, he was so nervous, he squeezed all the juice out of the orange he was clinging to for a feeling of security. It was quite a visual picture for me to have the first time I actually felt loved by my father. We had made our peace.

It wasn't long after that my father was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Before he parted this world, he was able to get to know his granddaughters, witness his eldest granddaughter's wedding, attend a dance recital of his youngest granddaughter and share some Bailey's Irish coffee with his middle granddaughter. We squeezed alot of life and love into a few short months, months that I will treasure for my entire life!