Happy Birthday, Dad

Today my dad would be 65 years old. In five months it will be three years since he passed. Time really does fly by. You know what is strange to think about? How one day me, you, everyone in this time, will be gone and the world will just keep spinning. People will move on and the planet and cultures will evolve. Eventually, it will be like none of us were ever here.

It’s a grim thought, but it’s true nonetheless. That’s how I feel and what I think sometimes when I have to remind myself that my dad (and my brother) aren’t here anymore. I feel bad because I’m just continuing on with my life and they are no longer a part of it – physically anyway.  I know I shouldn’t and that we all deal with loss here on Earth. I know they want me to continue on with my life and to be happy. It’s just tough some times. 

Like today, it’s my dad’s birthday and I can’t get a response when I tell him happy birthday. Not that I would get a response anyway. He was terrible about keeping his cell phone on him and returning calls or text messages lol. It’s good to joke. It’s better than the alternative. My dad liked to joke a lot, and I think that’s partly where I get it from. On my mom’s side I think I get it from my Yiayia (grandma). She’s a little goofy but it’s always an act and for our amusement (I hope). 

If you recall a recent post I wrote called When I Watch the White Sox, you can read there about a few good memories I have with my dad. Tonight I wanted to talk about other memories, and since we’re on the topic of him enjoying humor and liking to joke, I will tell you some stories about that. Let’s see…where to start. Hmmm. Don’t you just love when I come unprepared? You get to read all of my thoughts, and then read about me telling you that you get to read all my thoughts while I stall until I think of a good story that I remember clearly?

Image from coub.com

Oh! I have one. Okay, here we go:

Sometimes in the summer when I would be a lazy teenager and sleep in (after telling him the night before I’d be up early to help him in the yard) he would walk into my room and dump a big bowl of water on me. He’d stand there and laugh as I woke up annoyed and irritated lol. That was his kind of humor. It’s funny now, but in the moment it stunk and was not funny at all! I remember I’d say the typical teenage response “Get out of my room!” and he’d be like “Thanks for your help this morning.” LOL. He also knew how to throw on the guilt along with his jokes sometimes. 

Another one of my favorites was when we would take family road trips down to Florida. We have lots of family down there, so I don’t recall who we were going to see each time, but I do remember that we would drive the full 16 hours – or – so instead of flying. My dad always thought it’d be more fun (and probably cheaper, but that’s just my reasoning). Now that it’s all said and done I’m glad we drove because it gave us great memories like this: Whenever my mom would fall asleep my dad would move over to the side of the highway we were on and drive over the rumble strips to scare her and wake her up lol. It was always so loud and funny. He also liked throwing his hands up in the air like he was on a rollercoaster whenever there was a big decline while driving lol. I still do that today whenever go down an overpass or something similar.

There’s a lifetime of other jokes too, and one day I’ll share more of them. For now, I just want to end by saying happy birthday, Dad. I hope you’re having a great one up there. 

(This pic is from my wedding day. I’ve always liked it and thought he looked cool. Kind of like Tony Soprano lol. I think this was when he was getting tired of all the pictures and needed a smoke break).

Love, 

Peter