Last week would have been my dad’s birthday! Last month I would have been wishing my best friend and my dad every happy holiday in that month! But they are not here to share and enjoy the celebrations with me and my family. It makes me sad!

I don’t want to be sad. It just happens. I had the support and unconditional love from both my dad and best friend. I was fortunate. I was appreciative of them. One cannot help but wonder how things would be if they were both still here. I also always hope they knew how much each was loved … and not just by me, but so many family and friends!

Death is so darn permanent, but memories are not! I hold many memories! 

Recently I was thinking how my dad would discuss with me how I should tackle a rusty gate at my home. We would also bemoan the Homeowner’s Association needing to report “rust on a gate” to me, like I hadn’t noticed it. Do we really think it dropped my house-selling value? And now I wait for the right air temperature during winter to paint the gate … I mean really !??!

Whenever I take a walk/hike, memories of my best friend flood into my head. The joy was our discussion of everything! For forty years we talked about so many topics I cannot think of one we did not talk about! Nowadays we are guarded, yet that was never the case with my best friend. 

I know this next statement may strike you strange, but sometimes we still do talk! I can picture my dad and friend, each standing alone, and sometimes standing together, as they had done at various times through the years, as we talk. I ask my dad, what would he do in a particular situation and I ask my friend, what does she think about such-and-such. Memories seem to flood into my head and help me think what each might say to me. They were always kind. They usually asked questions of me so that I may actually solve my own issue. Interesting how that process seems to continue even as I talk with them now. 

I love memories and will hold them dear forever! Thank you dad and best friend!