When Someone You Love

It was 9-years ago today that my Dad passed on to be with the Lord.  We affectionately call it his 'Graduation Day' as it is the day he graduated from this life into eternity (which I do not believe everyone goes to heaven, but rather that you have to place your faith in Jesus Christ as God, Lord and Savior).  I had only been married one year earlier, and had just celebrated my 1-year anniversary; it had just been my parents 30th anniversary! 

My Dad and I had a great relationship and I loved (and still love) him very much.  I was proud to have him be my father, and truly enjoyed him being my hero on multiple occasions.  I have a lot of funny stories I could tell about him being my hero, but I won't go into that here as I do not use this blog to embarrass others (as the stories quite possibly would do).  Anyway, I was not done with my Dad yet.  I still had years ahead where I both wanted and needed him in my life. 

So many things have happened since his 'graduation' that are so wonderful they make me cry for missing him.  Things like the birth of my nephew and my own two precious children, family reunions, other family and friends also passing on to heaven, accomplishments, holidays and just the little moments in life that remind me of him or that make me long that he was here with me now.

I remember when my daughter was born how I wished that he was there (I have wonderful home births with my babies, and it would have been completely appropriate to have him in our home with her birth), and with the birth of my son I wanted him there even more!  We even gave my son's middle name the name of my father, which is a very unique name, and when he was born he looked just like my dad.

Today, God gave me a special moment and reminder of how great HE (God) is through my daughter.  But before I go into that I just want to say that I believe that God allows things that we may not know about.  I think God may allow my Dad to have seen my children's births or a special moment in time without my knowledge, and there is no telling what else God may allow.  As I mentioned above, today is 9-years since my father's passing on, but I have not mentioned it even once today.  I went on with life as normal.  We had a play date at the park where my son busted his lip (oops!), we had lunch time and nap time and play time and snack time; all very normal.  Then, we got in the car to run an errand and my daughter opened her mouth and spoke words that surprised me, made me smile and made me want to cry.  This is what my 4-year old said, "Mommy, do you remember when I was in your tummy?  Well then I was out of your tummy.  Then PawPaw hugged me and kissed me and said I love you, then he gave me to you.  Remember?"  Yes, my jaw dropped!  She is 4 and he left this earth 9 years ago; he was gone 5 years before her birth.  So I asked her, "Who is PawPaw?"  She said, 'Mommy (giggle giggle), your Daddy."  I then asked her what happened and who he was two more times just to see if her story would change, but she said the exact same thing three times.  WOW!  I do believe that God allowed him to be there for her birth and to hold her and kiss her and tell her that he loves her.  I don't know what you think or believe, but either way this was a neat thing to happen today.