My Dad

I knew shortly after waking up this morning that I was going to be emotional today. Hey, it happens.

This song challenge thing is starting to irritate me, but it has clearly done it's job by providing me things to write about. Today is ' a song that reminds you of a certain event' day. Well, my mind immediately jumped to my father, as it tends to do on days when  I'm feeling a bit fragile.

My father hung the moon to me, and he loved me as his only child more fiercely in the nineteen years I had him than I could have ever hoped of receiving from anyone  in a lifetime. So I suppose I'm incredibly lucky in that respect. He often worked nights, so my childhood days were filled with him there, our summers vivid in my mind… the two of us together. We would drive around in his VW Camper and sing Elvis Presley at the top of our lungs, with all the gusto and emotion we could muster (and that was a lot, he was Italian, after all). This was one of our favorites, especially since we could duo… he would belt out the song with me as backup and then I would take over with such dramatic dialogue that you'd think we were performing at Carnegie Hall. But we were just driving in our own little world, and as an introverted and lonely little girl,  it was my favorite place to be.  A safe, secure and truly happy bubble.

 I miss him so much. They lie when then say it gets easier. It doesn't. It gets harder. Maturity gives a new perspective on all that didn't happen and all that could have been down the road. He endured some of my most awful days, loved me through all of it even when I was so difficult to even like and never got to see that everything turned out ok in the end.