I couldn't find a really good picture of me and Dad, but I found this one and this is how I want to remember him. He was always laughing and joking and entertaining everyone around. I miss him already and it still doesn't seem real to me. I keep re-playing the phone call my mom made to me a week and 3 days ago at 5:34 a.m. and I can't make it go away. If that gets re-played in my mind all the time, I can't imagine what my mom is re-playing. But she is so strong, it will be weird and sad and I'm sure we will all go through numerous emotions, but I know we will be okay. Because Dad would have wanted it that way. He would want us to celebrate his life and keep on going. His funeral was the most honorable I could have ever imagined and I'm sure he was proud to be who he was as he was looking down. The past week was so weird, but we were surrounded by friends and family and loved and supported and we laughed and told stories and I never imagined we would laugh so much, but it was very healing. There will always be a huge void there, but it is nice to know we have such loving, caring friends and family around us. We are so blessed, because I realized going through all of this, that not everyone is that fortunate.

The hardest part of this whole week has been talking to Maddy. She doesn't quite understand, but she knows that something is different, and she doesn't understand why she can't see her Poppa anymore. When I first told her that Poppa was in Heaven with Jesus, she said, "I don't like Jesus". It broke my heart...I didn't know what to say, and I just cried. In another conversation, she seemed to understand a little more and I told her we will all be with Jesus someday and that Poppa would always love her and watch over her to keep her safe. She wanted to know if Jesus picked him up in an airplane. :) I know that with time, she will start to understand, but it is so hard.

Thank you to all of you who came to the services, sent condolences, prayed for us, or even thought of us through the holidays. It really means the world to us to have such an amazing support group to reach out to when we need you. I'm so thankful that some of you that live miles and miles away from me were able to be there for me. I will always know that I have the greatest friends in the world and I love you all dearly.

Here's to my dad and all that he went through in the last year, and to the impact he may have had for anyone who crossed his path...