World's Best Dad...

Each year on Father's Day, I feel the mixed emotions of love and loss.  Even after all these years, I still feel the love of my father as fresh as if it were yesterday that I last saw him.  He remains firmly in my heart, and no amount of passing time will ever change that love.

But I still miss him every day, in a million little unspoken, even unrecognized ways, as most people who have lost their father do.  You don't always think about it when you are missing someone.  You simply miss their presence in your life.  The unanswered questions.  The knowledge that never got imparted.  The life story you didn't get to share.  The years that you wanted but didn't get to have.  It is a significant loss, and one from which you will move forward, but never entirely beyond.

Freedom...

Today is the 75th anniversary of D Day.  On a day such as this, words are easy for me.  I could say a lot about the value of freedom, especially to speak negatively about our government when I disagree with the direction it is taking, or even to single out particular politicians with whom I disagree.  I think the First Amendment was a brilliant moment for our founding fathers, and this political freedom of speech is something I deeply cherish, perhaps more than any other right we have.

But today is not for political discussion.  Today is for remembering those who were willing to sacrifice everything for each of us to have the freedom we have, to liberate those who were suffering under a regime of hate and cruelty, and who took risks I would not want to bear in order to make the world a better place.

Today I remember those who fell on that awful day, and their families.  I am grateful for the sacrifice you made.

And today, I remember those who survived, and who have lived with the memories of that day ever since.  I am grateful for the sacrifice you made.

Freedom comes at great price.  I will never forget.  Thank you.  It is inadequate, but it is all I have.

Gone too soon....

I have been thinking a lot today, because it was the birthday of my youngest cousin, who would have been 53 years old.  She left this life much too soon, after a long battle with breast cancer, and my heart is still breaking with the loss.  She was irreplaceable in my life, as is everyone I love, and I miss her like crazy.  There is a hole in my heart that will never be filled, even as I have moved forward.

Mother's Day is not just for me and mine!

It is Mother's Day weekend, and naturally, I celebrate my own mother, who made a spectacular success of it.  (And who better to say so than her daughter, who got to see her in action up close and personal?)  Just as naturally, I celebrate my daughter, who is a wonderful mother to my two precious grandsons (the HUGE payoff for not strangling her when she was 15 and impossible, as I like to remind her whenever I can work it into the conversation!)

But I also know that there are a lot of people for whom Mother's Day is a painful reminder of what they don't have, whether through loss by death, or perhaps because they never had it in the first place.  We all have our own picture of the perfect mother in our heads.  Whatever your vision of her, most of us had some variation on that theme, and we know and appreciate how fortunate we were, or conversely, what we missed out on.

Life is not a competition....

I have seen a meme on facebook quite a few times about not judging others, because you don't know what is going on in their life.  I like that meme, because of the solid truth in it.  In fact, I have been thinking about that idea, and have taken it a step beyond.  I think that not only should we not judge, but instead, we should try to uplift wherever we can, because, quite simply, life is not a competition.  It is a communal event, and the better one does, the better we all do.

It is impossible to see inside the heart and soul of another person.  And although their life may not seem overwhelming to you, if it is to them, well, then it is.  Everyone's crisis is personal and overwhelming to them.  And really, does it matter whether it rises to your bar or not?