Friday, April 17, 2009

Fit Friday Curbed for Now...

I'm not up to writing two posts today so I'm not going to write about health and fitness. Instead I'm going to write about my dad. Today is his birthday. He would have been 69.

Would have been...that's still crazy for me to believe sometimes. My dad passed away from a stroke in August of 1999. I won't be blogging about it on that day. Instead, I decided to write about him today.

I don't only think about my dad on his birthday or the day he died but of course I ALWAYS think about him on those days.

This year has made me feel pretty sad. Ten years is a long time.

I realized the other day that I can't really picture him anymore. I mean, I don't really know what he'd look like as a 69 year old. I wonder if he would have grown his beard back or if his hair would be completely silver by now and he'd have a big grandpa belly. He will always just look 59 to me to when I picture him.

I also don't know what he'd be doing. I hope he'd be retired and he and my mom would be living at least part time in the mountains. He'd definitely have t-shirts and mugs with things like,"Number One Grandpa" and "Grandpa's my name...spoilin's my game" written on them.

I am thankful though for all the time we did have with him.

Some of my favorite things to think about my dad...

how he was like a kid at Christmas and would spoil all of us...

making himself laugh while playing Scategories...

playing in the pool like he was one of the kids...

playing hide and go seek-he was the best hider...

teaching us to think of other people...

always being a team with my mom...

laughing at me when I was saying something crazy...

saying things like,"Don't talk about my daughter that way" when I was being negative about myself...

cooking enough spaghetti to feed us for an entire week...

There's so much more. Of course I'm sad at the thoughts of things my family and I missed out on with him but I'm so thankful for the things we didn't. He was pretty cool.

5 comments:

Emily said...

That was a sweet post. I hope your day is full of happiness.

The GVZs said...

He was more than pretty cool. He was incredibly kind and one of the most gentle people I have ever met. He could always make me laugh (like when he would say 'Helllllllo, boys!' when we came over), and I always felt safe and secure in his presence. He was a good, good, good man, and although he is gone he'll never be forgotten. Big hugs to you today.

Anonymous said...

I know ,for sure, that Daddy is still looking down on all of us and is so proud of his three kids and your spouses and of course the grandkids.Thank you for your beautiful tribute (and for your phone call tis morning.)
I love you more than sunshine,
Mom

Katie said...

Your dad sounds like an amazing man, and your post was a really nice tribute to him. I hope your day is full of wonderful memories of your dad.

Natalie said...

What a beautiful tribute to your dad. I have tears in my eyes. I'll make a toast to your dad and his birthday at dinner tonight.