I wrote this on my blog on Father's Day morning in memory of my dad on my personal blog, Loving Confusion, and thought I would share it here as well.
For those of you that knew my dad, you know he loved to sing. He would belt out tunes on the top of his lungs. You could hear him singing in the shower, getting ready for work, walking down the hallway. Believe me when I tell you that he did not care if it was the middle of the night and everyone was sleeping. If the lyrics popped into his head, they danced right onto his lungs and out his mouth.
The songs he sang were the secret to his soul. We soon realized that the songs dad chose were songs that had meaning to whatever was going on around him. He would be heading out the door to the casino and would start randomly singing ‘The Gambler’ or he would look at my mom and start singing ‘You are my Sunshine.’ We would be getting ready for the May family traditional Fourth of July festivities and he would be singing ‘Star Spangled Banner.’ We would be heading to Florida in the wee hours of morning and he would be singing ‘King of the Road’ while we tried to sleep in the backseat. Once we caught on to this behavior, we would skeptically look at one another when he started singing things like ‘Old Flame’ and ‘Your Cheating Heart.’
This morning Chino (our pup) woke me up around 6am to urinate. This is where my dad would be singing ‘Who Let the Dogs Out’ ready to start the day. Not me, I was half asleep in the yard thinking about Father’s Day and my dad. I was feeling sorry for myself thinking that we were headed to the cemetery later this morning to wish my dad a Happy Father’s Day. My ‘pity party’ was interrupted by someone talking very loudly. Just another Father’s Day domestic call I wondered to myself….just kidding. I looked around to see what the noise was and a few houses away, I saw a man on a bike. I could see he had earphones on and was clearly enjoying the morning oblivious to anything around him. Once he got directly in front of my house, he belted out (on the top of his lungs) ‘I’LL BE YOUR CRYING SHOULDER!!!’
Dad‘s message was loud and clear this morning. We know he is still with us today and always. If you are missing a loved one today, take a look around you, there are signs everywhere. If you have nobody to mourn on this Hallmark holiday, count your blessing and for the love of G-d, go spend time with them today.
Sing loud and sing proud!! Enjoy the day!!
