10 years ago

10 years ago today my dad went to heaven.
I feel like 10 is such a big number for other things.
Like turning 10... my dad made a big deal about moving to double digits.
Or going to my 10 year high school reunion a few years back.
Or the fact that I am quickly approaching 10 years out of college!
So much has happened in 10 years since he passed, yet I can still make the day he passed away feel like today.

For people who don't know his story, here is a quick, very quick recap:
He got lung cancer when I was 10, they completely removed his left lung. Chemo and Radiation to follow. When I was 11, they found very small tumors in his brain. Radiation took care of those little marble sized tumors. And he slowly got better, grew 'some' hair, started driving again. And we all lived on like normal.  Well, our new normal. His bones were very weak from all the drugs and he broke his hip twice.  And the summer before my Junior year in college, he was told he had lung cancer again. And, with only one lung... the odds of beating this was not good. He was given a very short amount of time that he would live, but he made it 9 months. 


So, if you smoke, please think long and hard about the people you are hurting and the people you may never get to meet.  And if I lecture you,  please know that it comes from a good place.   And if I give you a dirty look for smoking near me or my children... well, that is something else.

There literally is not a day that goes by that I don't think about him or wish he was here to see the boys.  Hudson has this uncanny love for old men, and I sometimes like to think he is looking for his 'other' grandpa.
I keep a picture in my car that I took of him the summer he was sick.  It has been in this car for 9 years. I am pretty sure it will ride in every car I ever own.  I hope my boys ask questions about him one day, or want to look at old pictures with me. I love talking about my dad and how funny he was.

Anyways, I felt like I couldn't let his 10 year mark go without a little post.

Sorry for the cheesy homecoming picture...