My dad passed away five and a half years ago. I miss his hugs, advice, jokes, acceptance, love, laugh, caring, voice, smell, even his crunching of food (if you know me, you know this is huge).
I hear his voice in many ways.
Every times I drive, I hear him telling me to put my leg down. Explaining how unsafe it is and he doesn't want me to get hurt.
Every time my youngest giggles, I can hear his laugh. I see the tears rolling down his cheeks from his laughter.
Every time my husband eats something crunch, I hear his loud crunch of his favorite chips. The memory of wanting to scream because of the sound.
Every time IU plays basketball, I hear him yelling at the TV. I can see his passion for his Hoosiers.
Every time my mom makes spaghetti, I see his plate of spaghetti noodles with no sauce. He had to stay away from anything that would cause heartburn.
This past Christmas my mom surprised my brothers and I with a special gift. Together we opened our individual boxes. This was a very special gift. Mom had saved my dad's shirts to be made into blankets for each one of us. I will admit I had sat with my blanket wrapped around me several times since Christmas. Every time I feel like my dad is hugging me.
The whole blanket. It brings back so many memories of dad. I am so thankful that my mom thought to do this for my brothers and I.
Somehow every time I look at this portion of the shirt, I can smell dad's cologne.
He loved his job. This shirt reminds me of the passion he had for sharing the word of god.
I think more than half his wardrobe was camp shirts. Why not? He loved this place.
Oh the bleach spots. I am so happy that this shirt made it into the mix. In the summers dad ended up ruining his shirts from working. It would just not be dad's shirts if a shirt like this was not included.
From the time I was a little girl, for Father's Day I would buy him a shirt similar to this. It became a tradition. This was the last Father's Day shirt I was able to give him.
Yet another camp shirt. This one is special, because this was from his last summer. I got the chance to spend extra time with him this summer and we created lots of memories.