Warning! Honesty Approaching!

Sometimes I wonder how honest I should be. I feel like sharing... so forgive me ahead of time. Father's Day has got me thinking.

This is a picture of my Dad with his first child, Shawn Marie. He brought seven more children into the world after she was born. Heart disease, cigarette smoking, and a wicked temper took him out of our lives. I have several Father's Day cards in a box that I never sent because they didn't seem sincere. Sometimes greeting cards just don't say what you need them to. If I could give my Dad a greeting card this Father's Day here is what it would say:

Dear Dad,

Thank you for life. Thank you for the things you taught me that no one else could; like how to spit. Thank you for the traits you passed down... especially the good ones. Thank you for doing the best you could with what you had been given. You were smart and creative. You were musically and mechanically inclined. You could fix anything. You could catch fish anywhere.  I wish things with family could have been better or different while you were on Earth.  I hope heaven is everything you wanted it to be.

You told me once you dreamed of dying. You said it felt great flying over the land and water. You said you wanted God to carry you home. He did and you've been gone for years now. I hope you're flying or fishing or doing something you loved. I believe you can see everything now including all the things that might have been. I pray that you are with us, your children, closer than ever before.

I know you gave all you could give here. Please pray for us now, our father, who art in Heaven... fishing or flying or whatever.

I love you, Dad, Happy Father's Day.

Julie

---