Random Things From My Dad - HAPPY 80TH BIRTHDAY DADDY!

This post is a little late in coming, but then again, so are most things in my life right now.  I haven't written anything in a while, as I find myself slowing rising from a self-induced hibernation of sorts.  It's hard to articulate exactly, but I think I'll refer to it as "PTDD" - Post Traumatic Divorce Disorder.  That's probably a separate blog in itself, so I will just leave it as... "I'm Back!!!!!"

So what better way to celebrate my return to blogging than a new "Random" post about my dad.  Although this one isn't so much about what he's done for us (which is a lot).  Instead, it's about something we did for him.

 August 31st was my dad's 80th birthday.  That's a pretty big milestone and it made me ponder and reflect a little more deeply about the imperfect, flawed and yet tender relationship I have with my dad.  He yells... a lot... but he's also generous to a fault.  He really would do anything for his kids and family that he is capable of doing...

I find myself thinking about my grandfather a lot - my father's father.  He died when he was 81... I was 24 and my dad was 56.  He passed away Christmas morning of 1989.  It was by far the most bittersweet Christmas ever... even now.

So now my dad is 80 and I'm 47.  How much time do we really have left together?  No one knows, but our time is definitely limited.  He is still active and goes somewhere almost everyday.  He shops a lot (as evidenced by these posts!).... and he tinkers in his garden and with the yard.  But the years are showing... he stands a little less tall than he did last year, as his shoulders being their downward slope... his steps are more like shuffles as he makes his way from room to room.  He fell a few months ago in a neighbor's yard because he just lost his footing.  Just a few scrapes and bruises, but an ominous reminder none-the-less that he's not getting any younger.

So as I pondered all of these things as his 80th birthday drew near, I felt like we needed to do something special.  Only I had no idea what that might be.  We don't have a lot of money to buy anything extravagant.  Truth be told, however, even if we did have a lot of money I don't think there's anything we could have gotten him that he would have really wanted.  I thought, and thought, and thought... and then we came up with something special... something from me and the kids.

We put together a stack of note cards that listed 80 things we loved about "Papa".... Coming up with 80 things was pretty challenging, and some of them were a little silly, but we did it!  The kids decorated each card with markers and then we taped them all together to make a chain.  We put together a video and showed him the video as we presented the cards.  B E S T  B I R T H D A Y  G I F T  I D E A  E V E R.....  Here's the video:

I think my favorites are "most stylish" and "best stocked snack pantry".... but there are a lot of good ones in there...  It was fun to put together and a really good exercise for my kids to really thing about, and appreciate, everything that Papa does for us.  I have to remind them sometimes, that he loves us every bit as loud as he yells... and he truly does.

Happy Birthday, Daddy!