Portrait of a Daddy

Today was the 3rd anniversary of my dad's death and you know it gets a bit easier each year.  I have not forgotten him....oh no....my memories of my dad have just grown sweeter with the passage of time.  My father is the third from the left....the next to the smallest....and in my opinion the cutest of them all.  I thought he was the best looking man I had ever met.  He was good looking....inside and out.  My daddy was an amazing man.  Those of you who new him.....will agree....and those that had never met him....I am sorry you missed the chance.  My dad grew up poor.  His father was a sharecropper and they raised cotton.   Life was not easy.

When he was 16 he joined the Navy.  He made a handsome sailor boy.

 

 

When he and my mom married they lived on Georgia Avenue.  It was a great place to live and grow up.  I loved my years of Georgia Ave.

My father was not just a father....he was a daddy.  He loved holding us as kids. He hugged us when we fell down.  He taught us how to fish.  He spent time with us....lots and lots of time.  If you grew up as my father's child then you knew you were the most amazing person in the world.  I know I did.

 

I always thought my dad looked like Tennessee Ernie Ford.  He was such a handsome man.

 

 

 

 

My daughter, Kat, adored the man.  My mom, Wilma, thought he hung the moon.  He was pretty great.

My dad has been gone for 3 years and my mom for 1.5.  This bottom picture is how I think they met each other at the Pearly Gates.  They were so much in love and I am a better person for it.

 

Without You Daddy…

 

Today was a day much like one I experienced 3 years ago.....

 

…a silent, steady rain is falling in my heart.

…a cold, bitter winter wind is blowing outside.

…I sit here listening to all the sad songs on the radio.

…I want to call and make someone else sad....

 

but I don't.  I suffer in silence.

There have been so many times I wanted to call and tell you something....

 

anything.....something wonderful.....something sad.....but...

…I can't because you are not here.

…I stand in for you at funerals....

…I grieve you all over again...it is not well with my soul.....

…not today.....maybe tomorrow.

 

Your "darlin'" called me and told me she had made it through the day....

…One day I will....but it won't be today....today I miss the smell of Old Spice.

 

....your smell....I put on your jacket I keep here.....wait...is that Old Spice I smell?

 

I miss you daddy.....so very much.....

 

but most of all ....I miss me....without you.