I never want to forget…
The sound of his voice, or his laugh.
The way he sang to every song that came on the radio, old or new, country or rock…
How he loved to dance.
How he smelled.
The twinkle in his eyes always telling how mischievous he could be.
The way he would defend something he believed in.
How he cried at sappy songs, commercials and sad movies.
How he loved his grandchildren, his children, his family.
How he yelled at the computer, the tv, as if he could change the game, the race, etc to do his will by yelling at it.
How he took pleasure in simple things.
The silver of his hair.
The courseness of his cheek and roughness of his hands.
The way he smiled.
The way he ran his fingers through his ‘wave’ of hair that always fell over his face when not under a ballcap.
How he always had a story or two or three and didn’t mind repeating them all over and over so you wouldn’t forget them too.
How smart he was.
Singing Karaoke: Alan Jackson and Elvis his favorites.
How it felt to give him a hug.
How it felt when he was proud of me.
How he did his John Wayne impersonation.
His love of a good joke.
How he knew everyone, wherever we were, or went.
How he always made an impression and wasn’t afraid to speak his mind, even to ‘big wigs’ like politicians like Chet Culver, John Kerry, or even Hillary Clinton.
His loyalty.
His determination to always back up the underdog, the working class, the poor and the unfortunate.
His big heart, and hard life.
He was Big John, but really not so tall, but his personality was Huge.
I never want to forget a single thing about him… and so I keep writing about him. I keep looking at pictures, and replaying memories in my mind over and over, and I keep replaying the sound of his voice in my head, and his laugh, and his singing… and I never ever want to forget my Daddy.
I miss you so much. It will never stop hurting, but also will never stop making me smile at all the memories you’ve left me with. You are such a huge part of my heart, my life, that without you that space just sits there and fills up with memories, since there’s nothing physical left to put there…
I love you Daddy. I know I’ll see you again someday, and I will be happy to hug you again and hear you say, “Hey Punkin’.
This post is very true….its hard to believe he is really gone, i miss him very much …..i wish i could remember the sound of his voice….and i wish i could still hug him and talk to him……
I love him sooo much.
What a beautiful tribute. I have all the same memories, and will bookmark this page. I will read it everytime I miss him, which is often.