Missing you

We lost my dad to leukemia in 2009, but it seems like yesterday that I heard his laugh and felt his embrace. Dad was a good hugger.I miss him every single day !! I’m lucky to remember his message to us, imparted by his humble and simple example throughout his life, (From diagnosis to death we had just 139 days with him). I asked Dad what he wanted us to do and know after he was gone, and his words inspire me to this day. He wanted us to take care of our family but most of all of each other.he wanted us to love one another. And we do . He also said that the secret to a good life was “Be yourself. Be honest. Do your best. Take care of your family. Treat people with respect. Be a good citizen. Follow your dreams.” That, I think, tells you everything you need to know about the man know to friends as Sam and Dad to me.

Dad's dedication to others spoke for itself. 20 years in the Army with tour after tour under his belt retired from a job with 39 yrs service , volunteering for anything and everything he could do to help in our area from helping a neighbor at 2 in the morning if they needed something to , building fences, barns , fixing a car for a friend for free you name it he was there to help. 74 years as a very good man. He was hard on us when we were young and then he became sort of a big bellied buddha in the last decade or so of his life, so loving, so thoughtful, just a simple man who loved getting his hands in the dirt, good home cooked food, his church and most of all he loved us kids, we knew it , we felt it each and every day , he was both Mom and Dad to me and my 4 brothers growing up and in my eyes he is and was my hero.. My life changed the day God took him from me, I never got to say goodbye, I never had any idea he wasn't with me until 2 weeks after his funeral, A part of me will always harbor feeling towards my family for this, I understand their reasons, it was for my own good but the pain of never saying goodbye is hard..