DAD

As most of you know, my dad left this life last week. I have made several attempts to post something but could never do it. I know that some people were not able to make his funeral so I will just leave it with the talk that I had the privilege to give.

I am lucky to say that I have one of the best Dads in the world!! He was the most generous, caring, sweet, loving man that I have known and probably ever will! He was a man that would not stand for injustice. Especially if someone was being picked on or mistreated. He taught me from a young age to defend the underdog. There were many occasion that he would bring a homeless person home or just someone in need. There were not cell phones back then so there was no time to prepare my mother as to who he might show up with. It just became somewhat of a norm in my family. I remember one time he had brought a homeless woman home after he saw her getting beat up in an alley. I remember studying her appearance. It looked as if she had not bathed in weeks or had combed her hair for even longer. My dad treated people in need like they were his best friends. There were many times that my dad would stop to help someone on the side of the road. One time on a road trip he back tracked a couple of hundred miles to take someone in need where they needed to go.

It was not uncommon for my dad to leave uplifting notes. He would include sweet flowers with smiley faces inside them.  One quality that I wish I had of my dad's was his green thumb. He loved to garden and would bring the most beautiful bouquet of flowers to me that he had picked from his own garden. He was also an amazing artist! All of the paintings that you see here were from his hands.

 The smell of home cooked bread always reminds me of him. One summer he had broken his leg and was home more than usual. He spent his  time filling the house with smells of homemade bread. He was a great baker always cooked the best chocolate chip cookies. He was also a talented crafts man. He would build us a tree house in every house we lived in.... in one house he even built us a two story tree house. He would take us camping and explore old mines and help us look for gold in the mountain streams (we never did find any). He was my basketball coach and not just mine but my sisters too. With as many children as he had, he found time for each of us. He even made special time for my children. Allot or the times we would go to his house, he would be painting. Omini would love to sit and watch him. My dad had a special canvas always ready for Omini so he could join in my dad's talent. My dad finally just asked me to leave some extra clothes for Omini so that when he was there he could paint to his hearts content. Dezmon remembers my dad throwing him high in the air as he did with all of us kids growing up.

My dad would also wander in what I have now named "Victorland". There were many times that L and I would see him driving down the road or find myself next to him at a red light. We would honk and honk and the boys would have their arms flailing out the windows yelling "Papa Papa". You could just see him in deep thought or peacefully enjoying the music that he was listening to. We would follow him for awhile unsuccessfully trying to get his attention. There was one time that Lindsey, Summer and I were in the living room and my dad was reading the paper. We asked him a question and he didn't answer. So we said Dad again but still no response. We started to figure that he could hear us but just didn't want to be bothered and wanted to enjoy the peace he was finding in whatever he was reading. But we tried again calling "dad?"  He just kept reading. So then we started in song Dad, dad, oh dad, we know you hear us dad. As we went on with song for about a minute, we realized that he had absolutely no idea that he was the topic of our new found song. We continued in our attempt to get his attention. Our song went on for several minutes and the longer it went on the funnier it became. By the time my dad looked up, Lindsey, Summer and I were on the floor, hysterically laughing. He said confusingly "what is so funny?" After raising so many children, especially a teenager like me, who could blame him for finding "Victorland".

 My dad gave the BEST hugs! Whenever he saw one of his children, he would never let the time pass without saying "I am so proud of you! Or you are such a good mother!" He would say it with such sincerity. How I took those words for granted! I look forward to hearing those words again.

 No matter how many mistakes I have made in my life, he never showed disappointment. My dad truly showed me the meaning of unconditional love!!! If you can take anything good from my Dad's passing.... PLEASE do not take your loved ones for granted. Tell them you love them regularly. Do not let petty things get in the way of your relationships, for they can be gone today and there might be so much that you wanted to say. I am not sad for my father. I am sad for me.... I am sad for all of you that will miss this great man.

I LOVE YOU DAD! THANK YOU FOR BEING MY DAD!