Seven Years....

Ok I just realized the date today and that I totally forgot about what yesterday was.... the date that my Dad died. I must be doing better about missing him or maybe I was just too distracted by all the baby things that I've been doing lately to realize what the date was and how one of the most important men in my life has been gone for 7 years now.
I admit that there are many many times that he's all I can think about and I miss him immensely every single day. There were so many things that I never got to or will ever tell him. So many stories that he'll never tell me or retell to me over and over like the time my brother D took a hammer to the tires that were being stored for the Winter and how when Dad put the tires on in the Spring how upset he was to find out that he had 4 FLAT TIRES. It took some clever questions from our grandfather to find out who had done it. He's never gotten to meet any of his granddaughters and I bet you anything that if he had he'd have loved and spoiled every last one of them to bits.
I was always his little girl no matter how old I got. The child who after I was born he went home and painted "It's a Girl" and my stats on a cloth diaper and hung it on the house for everyone to know that I had arrived (I still have that cloth diaper saved in the Hope Chest that mom gave me when I got married). I could do basically no wrong in his eyes and everyone knew it.
Funny but the week that he died I had last seen him at Church and we had a nice conversation, wished each other a Happy New Year and I told him that I'd see him again soon. Neither one of us had a clue that 4 days later he'd be dead of a massive heart attack. That he'd be DOA at the hospital just like his dad 23 years and a few months earlier. I try to visit his grave when I can. I may seem silly to other people but I talk to him there alot. Fill him in on life here. Those visits have included conversations about the births of my two nieces, how I lost yet another job and needed his advice yet again on how to tell S and D, how much I miss him and most recently that I'm finally pregnant and having twins. When I am there I also make sure to visit with my grandfather even though I barely knew him since I was basically still so little when he died.
Have I mentioned how much I miss my Dad???
Lately I feel like I should visit him again soon (maybe tomorrow?). I bought some flowers in his memory for church tomorrow and I think I have to take whatever I bring home with me and I'm not sure what to do with them. Maybe I'll take them to the graveyard and leave them with him and Papa. The weather should be warm enough this week for them to be there and not freeze even though it's January.
I have to admit that even though I miss him like crazy everyday and think about all the things that he's missing now, that he was always there for me when I needed him, he taught me so many things over the years and that he got the chance to see me get married and gave me away on my wedding day and danced with me at the Reception. He was always just a phone call or a short drive away. He was no saint but he was my dad, my original hero and the man I've looked up to my entire life. I could sit here and type forever but you'll eventually get bored so I'll end here. Thanks for making it this far with me (I hope). I love you Daddy and will miss you Forever and ever.