Elvis Wasn't the Only One Born Today

Today is my dad's birthday. He would have been 68 years old. And when I would have called him to wish him a happy day, he would have said "Oh, Shauna, is this Shauna? So you remembered huh?" He's been on my mind all day. I've talked to a certain sister about 10 times today and I think we have mentioned him each time. We discussed honoring him by getting ice cream. It was that or to drink a 2 liter bottle of Mountain Dew and that wasn't going to happen. And actually if I wanted to do it right, I would fly to New York and get a chocolate Fribble from Friendly's. But as I type, Matthew is on his way home with my ice cream shake which I will enjoy very much and I'll think about my dad the whole time I'm enjoying it.

I didn't get to talk to my dad before he died. We had talked about 2 weeks before and he was telling me all about the surgery he was going to have to fix his troubled heart. Had I known that was my last conversation with him I would have said a few things other than "What, you have to get admitted to the hospital to get any attention?" I think I would have thanked him for being my dad. I'd have told him that all of my good memories of him cancel out any of the bad. I would have kept him on the phone for longer than 15 minutes...all day maybe. I wouldn't have hung up until I was sure he KNEW how much I loved him and how lucky I was to have had HIM as my dad. He was always my friend. Always, even when I wasn't his.

I miss my dad today. I want to tell him Happy Birthday. I want to tell him that his life was important to everyone that knew him. But mostly that I just miss him. This picture is of his 40th birthday party (I'm pretty sure anyway) where there were lots of jokes about buzzards circling over head. He was always a goofball and I think this picture makes that clear. Happy Birthday dad!