Happy Birthday Dad...

I didn't realize it was my father's birthday until I pulled up the calendar while doing something else. It's been close to ten years since I felt his embrace and heard his soothing words. He was the most amazing man I've ever met and it isn't because I was observing him through the rose colored glasses of a nine year old. I say this because I haven't met anyone able to duplicate the things he could do. His pure athleticism and competitive talent is second to no man who walked this earth. I mean, how many cancer patients have you seen that were able to do walking handstands etc... But what I marveled at the most was his mind. He could crack any stone cold business man while also having the intuitiveness to discuss obscurer topics e.g. rare rubies that are so obscure that the general population believes them to be fake (really interesting story). I don't scratch the surface of this man's accomplishments for the reader, but I am doing it for myself so that I never forget him. His voice has slowly faded away while his proverbs remain. His strongest one was family comes first and for me that extends far beyond blood. I digress. If some day, I could become half as well read as he was, or personable as he was, or as intellectually superior he was, I would be happy. For now I wish him a happy birthday and my thoughts of missing him. I think of him daily and at times try to convince myself that good has come from his death and I am some how better because of it. I am stronger, but I have benefited nothing else. Maybe, though, what I needed more than anything else were the early trials to strengthen me for the long hall. Either way, when we meet again, with our cardboard wings, I'll be anxiously awaiting to hear what you have been up to Dad.