A life well lived

It is October 2. My father's birthday. 

A day of sadness for that which is lost. A day of celebration for that which was and which lives on.

 I miss Dad tremendously today. I miss dancing with you, Daddy.  

We looked good dancing together, didn't we?! That was a fun day and I'm so thankful that Dad got to walk me down the aisle and be with me on that day. We were dancing to 'When you dance' in these pictures although 'Old time rock n' roll' was our all time favorite dance song.  

I had a little fire in the fire pit in honor of Dad tonight. He was a pyromaniac for many, many years. He loved bonfires and I would often help him burn the old bills/paper records. We would put the papers on the fire one at a time and enjoy the time to be together and talk and be outside in the quiet. I had the fire in honor of the good memories of fire with Dad and allowed the bad memory of fire to 

disappear for awhile. I had hoped for a relaxed atmosphere and pulled up a camping chair and a scoop of ice cream. Unfortunately, there wasn't any dry wood leftover from the weekend and the pile of firewood behind the fence was soaking wet and looking a bit scary with the coverings of bugs, snails, and unknowns. So, I burned a few shoe boxes which flared up quickly and died done quickly and somewhere in one of the boxes were some shoe inserts which stunk to the high heavens and smoked like crazy. The neighbors were loving me for that. So, it wasn't the fire of my dreams, but there were flames which I issued to the heavens with a kiss and a bow for some reason. I sent birthday love to my father and wish that we could have celebrated his 70th together with the Craig Duncan band just one last time. I wanted to roll back the rug at my parents' house and just have them come and play for a small party of people. I wish that we were cutting the rug right now. There are so many things that I want to tell Dad about. Like the tree in the front yard that snapped in half. The fact that the little boy across the street told me to fix the tree with some glue and duct tape. Boy after Dad's own heart. Nothing a little duct tape can't fix. Jared and I took two of Mom and Dad's suitcases to Europe. Both of them have duct tape X's on the front. It's tacky looking which is perfect. No one has messed with one of the bags yet and they're easy to find in baggage claim. I miss you, Daddy. You didn't care what the world thought. 

I listened to the CD of the memorial service tonight. I love these words from my Uncle David:

Nevin, we will miss your steady even-handed caring about all of us. But, we wouldn't hold you back. We're glad that you're free from your pain. So, go now, Nevin, go. Rest in peace.