June 16, 2008

Father's Day

Sunday was a hard day for me. Father's Day is always hard for me. I miss my dad terribly, and I have so many regrets.
I never made much of an effort to include him in my life. I loved him, sure, but I had grown up without a father, and I didn't feel like I was missing anything. Now that he's gone and there is nothing I can do about it, I know how much I was missing. I think it's ironic that I only live four hours from where he lived. We could have made up for so much.
Michael and I travel through Atlanta at least twice a year. We could have seen him every time.

I don't want to make this an entry about how much I miss my dad and how sad it makes me to think of all the time we had I didn't use. And nothing can make you go out to those family members or friends with whom you have lost contact or never had contact and strike up a relationship. I heard everything about how you should tell the people you love that you care, and that you should alway live as if today is your last day.

The truth is, you can't live like every day is your last day. It's impossible. It doesn't occur to most people that the family and friends they love could just be gone tomorrow. But it does happen.

Don't live like today is your last day. Live like today might be the last day you have the opportunity to speak to someone you care about. Because they might be gone. If you speak to everyone at least once a week, then you shouldn't have any regrets about their knowing how much you cared.

I am lucky. I know I'll see my dad again. His faith ran deep, and now I have two fathers in heaven.

2 comments:

Ross said...

Sorry to hear about your loss...or shall we say, temporary seperation. I also have faith that we meet the people we've loved in heaven. We share too much with them in this life for death to signal a permanent seperation. That's what I believe, anyway. That's why I have faith we meet them again, on some higher (and much better) spiritual level than our current one.

my2boyz said...

Lost my Dad last year and did not tlak to him for over 12 years. I never told him about my children. Sometimes people make bad choices, he was one of them.
Sorry for your loss