A year goes by so quickly

It is hard to believe, but yesterday marked one year since my Dad passed from this life. Though part of the year seemed kind of like a blur, it has gone by so quickly. Now that I've come to this milestone, I can truly say that the saying -"time heals your wounds" -has been pretty accurate with me. In the beginning, things were very tough and at times I wondered how life would ever go on as "normal" again. Well, it never did go back to normal, but it seems like there's a new normal in my life. At this point, though, I'm able to look back on fond memories and smile, instead of being only sad. Occasionally, I even have a dream about him interacting with me and my family-again, always happy. My kids, too, always talk about their great memories of Grandpa-when he took them out for ice cream, a movie, or golfing. The distance of many miles never lessened their love, or mine, for him. To mark the day, I wanted to do something special-something to remember him in a happy way-he would have wanted that. We got a dozen balloons at the party store, filled with helium. Each of the bigger kids wrote a note with a favorite memory of Grandpa or just a note of love and tied it to the string. Around dusk, we all took our balloons (little ones included) and set them off into the sunset.

What a sight it was to see all those balloons floating into the sky!

My favorite moment was when my 5 yo, John, set off his balloon and yelled out, "I love you Grandpa!" It brought tears to my eyes. Beloved Dad..sweet Grandpa...your memory will live in our hearts forever.