Happy Birthday in Heaven, Dad

Today's my Dad's birthday.  He would have been 77 years old.  Not a day goes by that I don't think of him.  And some of the things that Scotty does, reminds me of my dad.  (or maybe it's the "guy mold" thing?)

My dad was a simple man.  He loved working on his family farm, which is below my mom's home now.  He loved working with the farm animals.  He always wanted to have that "big green tractor".  He ended up with a green lawnmower instead.

Dad loved working outside.  Puttering around.  I remember in the summers when he would take some weeks off with me, he would be mowing the lawn and have the stereo speakers in the windows of the house, blaring, with music of the Statler Brothers, the Oak Ridge Boys, and the Kendalls.  And that stereo was blaring!

Dad loved working his garden too.  Always too big.  Too many veggies.  My mother had a poodle named Gina, and she loved helping herself to the peas, ripping the pods right off the vines.  She always seemed to know when they were ready.  Dad always planted extra peas!

Thank goodness the good memories are more plentiful than the bad ones.  Some days are still harder than others.  But then there are the good days when you can't help but laugh at something that my Dad might have done or said.  Thank God for those days.

So I say it again.  Happy Birthday in Heaven, Dad.  I hope you are planting the biggest garden, riding the biggest tractor, fishing in the biggest stream, and free of all the pain you were in toward the end of your Earth life.  And I hope I'm making you proud, as I was proud of you during your brave fight to the end.

I love you, Dad, and miss you every day.

Happy Birthday