We are one less than before.
Three days after I posted here last, Dave's dad left us, peacefully, for a place of eternal rest.
It's nearly impossible to think of him as gone, because we see little snippets that remind us of him every day: The endless varieties of fruit we keep on the fridge and on the counter. The knowing smile Dave gives me as he cleans my car windshield. Dave and Zach watching the Indy 500 together. Luke's seemingly limitless patience as he waits for me to make a decision in the shoe section.
We are diminished in number, true, but our hearts are swelled with love, our minds are enriched with memories, and our lives are sweeter with traditions and traits that he passed along.
Zach is convinced that he is back with us, in the form of another creature - and if that's the case, I know he is watching us with a characteristic twinkle in his eye, and probably a happy tear or two.
As the summer begins, Dave and I are going through transitions of our own. I quit my job last week and I'm getting ready to embark on a new web project that Dave and I have been developing in the background for the last few months. We're about to head to Hawaii for Dave's first few days of "vacation" all year (even though he'll most certainly be on the phone). The boys are in motion - literally and figuratively - growing in leaps and bounds and ready to enjoy the fullness of summer ahead. And even though we all continue to feel a sense of loss, we have comfort in feeling Dick's presence and love that is around us every day. How lucky we were to have him as part of our family!
We will miss you here, Dick, but you will always be in our hearts.
