Aug 18 2011

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Published by at 7:58 am under Family,Memories


One of my favorite pictures of my favorite person

One of the problems with flying in the face of convention and WordPress by freeing myself from the tyranny of the post title is that using the date really makes you think about the date. Especially when it’s the Evil Eighteenth, aka the most dreaded day of the year.

Here it is again, and this year marks the tenth anniversary of my father’s death. I can hardly believe it’s been an entire decade since his life ended and mine changed forever.

I still remember my sister’s voice when I picked up the phone early that morning – evening for her; she had already lived through a day of horror by then – sounding small and stricken.

I still remember my brother grabbing my hand painfully hard with his work-roughened one as we headed to the airport together, his blue eyes, so like Dad’s, gazing tear-filled into the horizon as he said, “Let’s do it.”

I still remember wanting to run down the street screaming outside Dad’s funeral,and how seeing the resplendent Indian wedding across the street – something he would have loved, he who loved beauty (and India) so much -somehow gave me the strength to go in there.

I still remember my sister and I holding hands across Dad’s coffin before it vanished into the flames, the pallbearers holding their top hats over their hearts and bowing.

But I also remember waiting for him to come home from working at the lab when I was a little girl, the familiar chemical smell of his white lab coat as he swept me up into his arms asking, “How is my pixie today?”

And I remember riding on his shoulders through the woods in springtime, while Dad called the birds and they answered him. He knew all their names. And he could make clouds disappear, mostly on days with a breeze in the air…

And I remember coming icy-cold out of the chilly summer waters of the Atlantic and lying down on his sun-warmed back as he read the New York Times on a beach in Maine.

He never complained.

He was the best father and friend a girl could ever have. I was lucky to have him. Though the grief is the price of the love, it has also given me the strength to get through this first decade without him, as I’m sure it will in the decades to come. As time passes, I spend more time thinking of the happy memories of my father and less time thinking of the sadness of losing him. I think that would make him happy.

I love you, Dad. Always.

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5 responses so far

5 Responses to “Thursday, August 18, 2011”

  1. Alisonon 18 Aug 2011 at 8:01 am

    What a lovely post. xo

  2. Joyon 18 Aug 2011 at 1:53 pm

    This Entry brought tears to my eyes…it is so hard to lose loved ones, but you are sooooo lucky to have such great memories – so savour them and try not to be so sad and be as glad as can be to have been so very lucky. Easy to say, I know – but I think, true…..

    Hugs jxx

  3. Guy Charbonneauon 19 Aug 2011 at 3:15 am

    How lucky are you to have loved and been loved so much in your lifetime, yes continue with the good memories, let go of the sadness, be happy for him as he is surely watching over you in a much beautiful and peaceful place.

  4. Mike Charbonneauon 19 Aug 2011 at 9:10 am

    ~hugs~

  5. Amberon 27 Aug 2011 at 8:38 pm

    *hugs*