7 Years Ago

Today is the 7th anniversary of my father's death.  It's crazy for me to think that I was just a sophomore in high school 7 years ago and that's the last time I saw him.  I'll never forget the last time that I was together with my dad.  That morning was pretty typical, I'd get up early about the same time as my parents, go and eat breakfast with them, talk with my dad over breakfast about whatever (usually we fought over the comic section), and then I'd walk down the road to the bus stop. Or he would drive me. It was always nice to have him drive me in the winter to the bus stop because I could sit in the nice warm car and wait instead of outside where it was so stinkin' cold!  That morning he drove me down to the bus stop.  We were talking about the movie "Napoleon Dynamite" and I loved that he loved how stupidly funny it was as much as I did. We were listening to something on the radio, I can't remember.  When the bus pulled up, he looked over at me and said, "Okay, have a good day at school. I love you!"  I said, "I will, I love you too," gave him a big hug, and hopped on the bus.. I would always sit on the side of the bus closest to the road so that I could watch him drive back up to the house as we drove away toward the school. 

Not once did I feel like something was going to go wrong, not once did I feel anything but happiness that my father drove me to the bus stop.  The rest of the day passed in a blur, and getting that phone call at 6:15 PM...20 minutes after they were supposed to be home...from some random lady that was hysterical saying my mother needed to talk to me and there was a car accident was the one thing that changed my life.

There's not a day that goes by that I don't think about my dad. I love him so much and I miss him so so much. I would trade everything I have to see him one more time.  I see friends say that they hate their dads or moms, or that they can't stand being around them, or just complaining about them in general. It breaks my heart because I'm one of the many who can just say back, "Don't, because you never know how much longer you'll have with them."

I love you, daddy. I don't know what you're doing up there in Heaven, but Lord knows I can't wait to be on that motorcycle again with you when I die.

My dad and I when I was just a newborn!