and so it goes

We memorialized my pop's life this weekend. It was a wonderful reflection of who he was, what he believed in and just how much love scatter was manifested in those nine, long decades. We shared funny stories, e.g., the time he and mom drove back in the early '80's, to West Virginia, and their rental car cassette player was on the fritz and a Conway Twitty tape was stuck inside...on an endless, repetitive loop. "I had to listen to that son-of-a-b**ch comin' and goin'!", he said. :)

While my sis and I were at his bedside in hospice, she spoke of how, no matter what Dad may have been busying himself with at the time; if you came to him to ask a question, express a feeling...he would stop what he was doing and listen. Always. Something I knew but hadn't really reflected on until she shared it with me. It was there for three weeks we sat over him, laughing, crying...remembering, until he told us to get lost and he could take it from here. He was old, tough until the end, brave in the crossover, warm to the touch and surrounded by love and its healing closure. We should all be so lucky, friends.

My youngest, T-Mag, had a birthday, her 6th, in the midst of all this. She continues to light my life. The world is your oyster, baby..your dreams are mine. Don't you ever forget that. Whatever your tomorrow brings, it will always hold my heart within it. And your grandpa's watchful eye above it.

Funny, how life is...there are goodbyes and sweet beginnings. It's mystical flow continues on- the pain, the pleasure, the loop-de-loop. Never easy but always worth it. And if we're smart, we take the time to deglaze the pan as much as we can. Because it's all those little bits on the bottom that make it so damn good.


This one's for you, Dad...