Yesterday on the way home from the school, I mentioned to the grandgirls that today would have been my father’s 89th birthday.

Sweet Stuff: “He never got to know us.”
Sunshine: “No, he doesn’t know us.”
Me: “And that’s one of the saddest things I know of. Grandshaw would have loved you so much. He would have loved seeing you and knowing you.” My voice started cracking before I could even finish.

It’s indicative of the power of the parent-child relationship that over 21 years after my father’s death, I still tear up thinking about how much I miss him. I would so love for him to see what wonderful adults my children have become. They were just children - in second and sixth grades - when he died. Now they’re grown - and the grandgirls are here: Sweet Stuff is about to finish first grade, and next year Sunshine will be kindergarten. How I wish my father could see and shower my little grandgirls with his unconditional love. And it is truly one of the saddest facts of my life that he is not still here.

A couple years ago, a classmate of my niece died - a little first grader. Haley cried and was upset, but then she said, “Well Anna Marie is alright, GrandShaw will take care of her.”

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 21st, 2008 at 7:44 pm and is filed under Birthday Honors, Family, Remembering, Sweet Stuff & Sunshine. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.