Another Father's Day Without You

There's something like a line of gold thread running through a man's words when he talks to his daughter, and gradually over the years it gets to be long enough for you to pick up in your hands and weave into a cloth that feels like love itself.

~John Gregory Brown, Decorations in a Ruined Cemetery, 1994

Me and Daddy-O back when I was a Senior in High School, this was Homecoming and I was on the Court! We had our Dads escort us onto the football field for the festivities. We all got to pick a rose wrapped in aluminum foil and whoever got the red rose was Queen and the yellow rose was runner up...well, with a name like Whitaker I was second to last in the line-up, so to speak, and just as I was getting the last of one of two roses to choose from, there were squeals of delight as two at the beginning of the line were the Queen and her Queen-ette. Geezzz, I never had a chance...
My Dad was a gentle soul. A quiet man, he loved to read and had always wanted to be a teacher, but could not afford to go to college. Instead, he put himself through Electrician School and worked for the power company. He made sure his children could go to school and be what they desired. He used to sit on the floor and feed our blind Yorkie with a spoon.
That was the only way she would eat.
I lived in Seattle for 5 years and wanted to buy a home there, but my Dad would never get on a plane. So, I moved back to Pittsburgh ( I had lived there while in art school) to be close to my parents in WV. So glad I did. He would call me at 5am when I was getting ready for work to tell me the weather all the time. God, I miss those calls. And to not go to the gym after work because it could snow. And then call to check on me to see if I went and if I did he would tell me how I worried him! Always Daddy's little girl... no matter how old.

It's been 10 years now and it still seems like only yesterday. And now one of my best friends is losing her Dad to lung cancer, practically overnight. Their relationship is like mine was with Daddy. She asked me to do a painting of her Dad in his favorite chair with his boy, Harley, his pug (who is always by his side!)
I was honored...This is going to be a tough one.

If tears could build a stairway

And Memories a lane...

I'd walk right up to Heaven

And bring you home again...

...Miss you Daddy...