Today would have been my dad’s 94th birthday. I think of him every day. It’s hard to believe he’s been gone 4 ½ years already.
I ended my last blog post with “Maybe the moment to show that you care won’t come again. Because you never know.” The best example of this in my life is my siblings’ and my decision to celebrate Dad’s 89th birthday. When we were thinking about it, I said to my sister, “There’s no guarantee there’ll be a 90th.” And sure enough, there wasn’t.
One of the highlights of our time together was all of us going to buy Dad’s present – a birthday suit, which he thought was pretty funny. He always had a great sense of humor.
My dad always liked to look nice, especially for church. He wore a suit and tie every week. Over the years, as he lost muscle mass and height, his dressy suits no longer fit him. So we decided it would be a great birthday present to take him to a men’s store and have him fitted for a tailored suit. We all hung out at the store while he got measured, and when he was finished he said to us, “You kids are going to bury me in this suit.” And indeed we did, only seven months later.
So this is another reminder to love the ones you love, now. Because you never know.
We wanted a commemorative photo, and we chose this colorful tie display at the store for our background. Left to right – Lars, Bryan, Dad, Vassie, and me. Happy Birthday, Dad!
