Nov. 2 Entry

Yikes!  I feel like I inadvertently abandoned my Blog.  Maybe it's a case of "the busy's", or the ever present nature of Facebook.  

I was sitting in church tonight and suddenly realized it was November 2.  This was the night my father passed away 18 years ago, and I hadn't given it a thought all weekend.  Usually on Halloween I have something happen that clues me in, but this year it just never came to mind.  So while sitting and listening to music in church I was thinking that it was sort of nice.  Partly because I thought about my dad 2 times today, regardless of the anniversary.  

First was when I put Levi down for his nap for the second time.   My dad would always make me take a nap on Sunday afternoons at the same time he did.  Our neighborhood had an unwritten rule that kids stayed inside until 3pm on Sundays so that everyone could enjoy their dinner and take naps, etc.  Obviously, the kids hated this rule, and I always attempted to find ways to sneak out.  Knowing this, my dad would always make me take my nap on the top bunk of our bunk beds, and he would snag the bottom bunk.  I would always wait for his breathing to slow down and then try to ease myself down from the top bunk, across the wood floor and out the closed door.  9 out of 10 times I would get caught or end up falling asleep before he did.  So as I caught a couple Z's next to Levi, I thought about how great those Sunday naps really were.

The second time I thought about my dad today was when Levi was eating lunch.  Nora and I have a really hard time getting our menus and lunch times to match up right now, not to mention Levi's schedule.  Nora has several food allergies and needs to eat pretty often.  It's not unusual for me to look at the clock, see 4pm, and realize that I haven't eaten anything that day.  So we were both talking about how we need to try to line up lunches or dinners better and eat them as a family.  My parents did a great job of this, and I know Levi will miss something if we don't do it.  But I was remembering when he was diagnosed with Cancer and was on a special Macrobiotic diet, that we still ate together.  My mom was probably more to thank for that, but it still was a great memory of our family around a dinner table talking about the day and laughing about something inappropriate for dinner conversation.

So, sitting in church, I didn't feel a lot of sadness - just some additional gratitude.  Miss you dad, and I'm trying.