Ten years ago today, June 19, 2005, was my last Fathers’ Day with Dad — Robert A. Darrow. That afternoon we watched this video tribute together which I made to honor him, thank him.
I remember when my father died, June 27, 2005, and I mentioned it in an email to a friend. (In 2005 Facebook was not yet “a thing.”) One friend said to me something like “I know how you must be feeling. My dad died ten years ago. It’s huge.”
And I thought to myself, “Wow. What is it like — what does it feel like –- to not have your dad anymore for ten years?”
Now I know.
It’s not so bad. I still miss him a lot, but the pain of the loss is nowhere near what it was. It probably took a little bounce out of my step. Many things in life can do that. But happiness, joy, appreciating the humor in life — these are choices. And I still choose to laugh and enjoy.
And I do know that life is short.
June 22, 2015 at 6:34 am
David, I envy the wonderful family life you all had together, I wish I had the talent to put together a video like you did as a tribute to my dad, and other family members that are gone. I have boxes of pictures and thousands of slides, Maybe I will try to do at least some scrapbooks. Your video was inspirational, sad, but mostly happy. Your Dad and Mom, wonderful people and I especially liked the time the whole family came together; the hugs, and laughter and love. I don’t remember much of that except for my grandma and grandpa who lived with us all my growing up years. My mother was the “boss,” and poor daddy was kind of in the background. It wasn’t until my mother was old, and I was the one taking care of her that we became friends, then she told people how much she appreciated me. And 10 years before “Pop” had just dropped dead on the kitchen floor, so no time to say good bye. You have a wonderful family, and I am happy for you all.