September 10 - Sweet

Memories of my dad get sweeter each passing year. Three years today ...

Happy Labor Day!

And thank a union sometime during your celebration today.

I'll be laboring … plants still need watering, national (U.S.) holiday or not. It looks like rain, but not until much later and even then a predicted rain can skirt around the mountain and miss us entirely. So I'll be watering at the garden center, and maybe mowing here at home. I did a little weeding yesterday, but it was VERY hot and VERY humid and I quit when I'd done only about a third of the area I started on.

This is warm-up week for Up&Running. I thought we would actually be running this week, but it's more about defining motivation, which is very helpful when it comes to sticking with a program.

Yesterday's photo brought up all kinds of emotional stuff for me. The lovely Chantelle's photo prompts reflect that she lives in Australia, where Father's Day happened yesterday. I didn't know that until I Googled. The best thing that came from yesterday is the enduring gratitude I have for being able to spend the last week of my Dad's life with him.

We would have so much to talk about this week, were he still alive. I'm excited about the Democratic National Convention. I know a lot of people who are there and will be glued to both the television, the phone and the laptop for the next few days. I expect my blogging will be limited (I could be wrong), but I'll at least get the picture posts up to keep the daily-post streak going.

The theme for May is PLAY!

I bet the NaBloPoMo organizers didn't have this in mind when they decided to make May about play. Those adorable, playful characters from our childhood memories of Winnie the Pooh must be on something, right?

A quick Google search also turned up a shorter list of disordered characters with suggested medications, but I like this one better. And since it's all over the place, I never did find the original source to give credit. But I tried!

I get to play a little bit today. A friend's birthday is Thursday and we're celebrating tomorrow with a float down the Greenbrier in rafts and kayaks followed by dinner. I volunteered to bring the cake (mmmm, cake) and since I'm working tomorrow and can't bake it at the garden center, today I get to PLAY in the kitchen. May, play, birthday, YAY!

As I said yesterday in my photo post, I'm rarely sad. In fact the only times lately I've felt any kind of melancholy are when I'm outside doing something garden-y and I want to tell my dad, or send him a picture. He was my long-distance gardening partner. He'd be so proud of the horseradish and I know he would love the idea of getting 31 bags of free straw!

He played all the time, everything he did was touched with a sense of delight. A trip to the hardware store turned into a scavenger hunt, and a trip to the hospital was an opportunity to trot out his old jokes for new nurses, therapists, housekeepers and lab techs. Even when life got hard and painful and difficult he was still a big flirt and a fun-loving guy and a great example of how to live life playfully.

Who helps you play?

Happy Groundhog's Day!

Speaking of relatives: I love talking about and remembering my dad who, in later life, declared Groundhog's Day to be his favorite holiday.

This was not always the case. I don't remember any great celebrations in early February during my childhood. But as he (and I!) got older he became less and less serious about day-to-day stuff and more and more lighthearted about, um, everything.

What a good example he was.

Early one February 2, several years ago, the phone rang. Dad was calling from Florida to wish me a Happy Groundhog's Day, something he'd never done before.

Me: I'm sorry, what did you say?
He: Happy Groundhog's Day! Did the groundhog see his shadow in West Virginia?Me: Um, I'm not sure. Why are you suddenly all excited about Groundhog's Day, anyway?
He: It's my new favorite holiday.Me: And why is that?
He: No cards, no presents, no big meals that take all day to fix. Winter's on the way out and spring is right around the corner.Me: Well, there's still a lot of winter left in the next six weeks.
He: Maybe in West Virginia, but it's in the 70s down here! When are you coming to visit?

After that inaugural conversation, I sent homemade cards with groundhogs on them every year.

Daddy died in September of 2010. We've already been through the first year of celebrations without him. Each one gets easier. Even on Groundhog's Day.