I never wanted to think about the reality of life without my father around. But this is inevitable if we go through the normal course of life. I never realized how fortunate I was to even have a father I could identify, much less actually have a relationship with him, until I was much older. So many people don’t have that. I’m grateful that I did. My pop was awesome. If my dad had a baseball career that paralleled his aptitude for fathering he would have been Babe Ruth…or Hank Aaron. The home run king of fatherhood. And though far from perfect my pop taught me a few very valuable life lessons not by telling me what to do. But by what he modeled. As they say, your kids will hear what you say, but ultimately they will do what you do.

There are many things I wish I’d said to my dad while he was alive. But I just never knew how. Fortunately the words “I love you” weren’t among those lost words. My father and I showed our love, both, with word and action. But,still, I wish I could have allowed my mouth to say more of what my heart needed to communicate to him. My dad is my hero.

I have often been slow at figuring out what I needed to say to people. Words would avoid entering my brain until my emotions could be sorted out into something that could be verbally expressed with some clarity.
But then other times I have no problem expressing myself. My pop was everything we learn not to believe in when we grow up. He was Super-man, Santa claus, the Easter Bunny etc..all rolled into one extremely generous, and kind, family oriented man.

I have learned from his successes and his mistakes. Over the years. I watched a man of often few words slowly learn how to communicate to people he loved. Once he just started talking to me about this Mike and The Mechanics song “the Living Years”. It was totally out of the blue..that was years ago….he talked about letting people know how you feel while their still around to hear it. And I watched him in the following years do his best to do that as difficult as it was for him at times.

I’m kind of just rambling now. But I will share this because maybe someone else has felt what I’m feeling right now. Maybe someone else will feel these feelings at a later time. We all need each other. So a hope that my sharing blesses you. Enjoy the video. this song speaks to me..and I can’t get it out of my head anyway. So I may as well share it with you. This is likely just the first of , a few entries about my dad. I invite you to return if there is something here that blesses you. peace