Writing a blog on a regular basis is an interesting thing. (Okay, okay… I sound like I really know what I’m talking about and am only truly on Day #3!)
Anyway, as the day proceeds, things happen and you see various things around and think, “Oh, I could write about that!” Today, the topic was going to be singing commercials for local businesses and/or writing about one local studio in particular or the snowy weather we’ve had in Fukuoka today.
Then I saw a particular post on Facebook… a friend’s father passed away today. With that single and simple post, everything that had happened during the day vanished from my mind and one thought remained… I miss Dad!
My dad passed away suddenly in August of 2005. He hadn’t had any particular health problems that anyone knew of. My parents had just moved to a small city in Tennessee from the big city of Tampa, Florida. (Dad was going to pastor a small country church there.) They were there about a month and, one early Sunday morning, he was sitting on the couch, telling my mother he didn’t feel good. She called an ambulance and less than two hours later, he was gone.
Being Daddy’s little girl, mere words are not enough to express the devastation and loss I felt when I heard the news. The void in my heart is still very much there and I still miss him immensely… but we’ll talk about that at another time.
During the afternoon and evening, different memories of my dad passed through my mind. Then while I walked the dog tonight, cold wind blowing, snow falling, I remembered a song my dad used to sing to get me to laugh.
He LOVED to make original jokes and to do play on words and change lyrics to songs. So, in his beautiful baritone voice, he’d start to sing. ♬♪ People… people who eat people… are the luckiest people… in the world ♫♩ (Of course, it’s actually “people who NEED people”.) Yet, no matter how many times he’d sing that (and I knew exactly what word he was going to sing), I’d giggle incessantly!
So many years ago… and what I would do to hear that soothing voice again!
As I walked with the dog under the dark gray skies, both of us being bombarded by big, fluffy snowflakes, my dad’s voice was singing that line in my mind… and without really thinking about it, I giggled out loud.
Oh, how I miss him…
The Life of a Boiled Egg 
Feb 02, 2012 @ 15:46:31
Roberta,
Thank you for posting these thoughts. I’m sorry for your loss.
My dad passed away 12 years ago and I still miss being able to talk to him. It’s weird isn’t it, one day your carrying on seemingly silly conversations (he was trying to convince me to move my family closer to him) and a few days later there is no more conversation. His death was a complete shock as well. One morning fit as a fiddle that afternoon gone from this life.
The thing is, Roberta, even after all these years there are moments when I’m completely overtaken by the fact that he’s not around and I’d give anything for a couple more minutes with him. The only consolation is that one day I’ll be able to talk to him again.
Thanks again for posting your thoughts and memories.
Feb 03, 2012 @ 02:48:07
Jeff,
Once again, thank YOU for sharing! I know exactly how you feel missing your dad. There are still messages on my answering machine which I can’t bring myself to delete… my dad singing “Happy Birthday” or just calling to check up on me.
One interesting thing is this: People who haven’t experienced the loss of a parent will often say, “It’s going to be okay. The feeling of loss will fade over time.” Those who know and have gone through the same thing often say the exact same thing as you… the feelings of missing the person are still as strong as ever.
It’s comforting to know that you understand. Thank you for being there (virtually, though it may be) to empathize with me…