I have been thinking of you all day. You are 70 today, or you would have been if 9/21/92 didn’t mark another kind of day. Happy Birth Day. But sadday, too. Can I tell you I miss our breakfast table morning talks? There isn’t a day that goes by when I don’t think of something to tell you, something to ask you. Am I living this life right? Where’s the Chilton manual for that? While I question this life, I speak of you often – telling stories of navigation lessons gone awry and near disaster driving lessons. Remember when I almost put the land rover in the ditch? You live on in my fondest, most cherished memories. Just today I told the Clean Your Room Story. My audience laughed and said you were right to throw the bed through the ceiling. As usual, you were proving a point. I was a rebellious, bratty child.
You ran with me today. You were in my head as I tackled five miles. I think that’s the thing that would shock you the most, dad. I’m a runner. Me. The child with her nose in a book, inside on a beautiful sunny summer day. I still can hear you telling me to get my butt outside. I can still remember how “put out” I felt by your insistence of “get some fresh air.” You probably knew that while I begrudgingly obeyed…I brought my book with me. Anything athletic was out of the question for this book worm – slug. But, now I run.
Dad, I need your help with so many things lately. I’m in denial about a friend’s cancer. I’ve just spent three days with like-minded professionals and somehow I can’t put myself in their league. I feel like I’m in the kiddie pool when I know I can swim. I really can’t but that’s neither here nor there. I worry about so many different things to the point of heat blisters and bald spots. I get lost staring at kisa playing Guitar Hero II. It’s distracting. You would not believe this world we live in. Kids have wheels in their shoes. You would want to trip them. There’s a guy on the Internet, his name is Justin and his whole life is on the web…Dad, his whole life. Then there’s Twitter and something called Second Life. So many things I wouldn’t even know how to begin to explain to you.
But, forget all that. If you were here we’d make meatloaf and have angel food cake for dessert. Happy birthday.
~*LunaSea*~ 
Crying…hugging you…beauiful.
That was to be “Beautiful” the tears were in the way.
If I could emoticon “bittersweet” I would. Thanks for the hug – much needed!
I remember the “clean your room” story. I remember that you lost a small piece of that story between Broderick Street and 501 … and I still wonder where it went. you’re doing better that you think kid … and he knows it.
That’s the thing about having friends like you – they remember the important (historical) times. I have no idea where that tile went…I still miss it!
ps~ Happy birthday to you, too! 😉
Guitar Hero? Wow. Derek, Ryan and I stayed up waaaay too late Christmas night playing that game.
More relevant. I remember him and miss him too.
I was just telling a friend you were the only one to come to his funeral…forever grateful.
he was a friend when I needed one more
“He was a friend”…Not many people can say that.