My Father

In just a few weeks it on March 3rd, it will be the 10 year anniversary of my fathers death. I remember the day vividly. It is a day I experienced pain like I had never before. My dad was the best Dad in the world. He drove over an hour everyday to work to LA, worked a full day only to do the same drive home. He would leave about 5:30 am or 6 am everyday. When he would get home we would run up to him and he would sit in a chair and put his four youngest children on his knees (two kids on each knee) and sing silly songs with us while tapping his feet so we would go up and down. Silly songs he sang "Someones in the kitchen with dina" "who gunda stow my saxophone" and Alouette. I am not sure if he might have made some of them up but they were a hoot and he would make us laugh. On weekends he would pack us and the neighborhood kids in the car (before seat belt laws and when each kid having their own seat was optional) to the park. Again singing on the way there and back. What amazes me is that after working a full day at work he never complained he was too tired. He never told us kids to go away. I can't imagine having 7 kids that are 8.5 years apart and not being exhausted. Dad was a kidder. If we wanted something he kept us asking while making fun. "dad can we go to the movies?" " i don't know can you?" He was a GENTLEman. He was a religious man. He taught us to be non-judgemental, to be passionate about politics, to talk louder if someone disagrees with you because maybe they don't hear (LOL just kidding but we all do it). Most of all he taught us to love. Love our friends, love our family and more importantly to love God. So when he died that morning in March 1999, it was a great loss. Not just a loss to me but to the world. At his Rosary service more people stood up and spoke about him. They told stories that we had not heard. I learned at that time my dad was a humble man. He received medals in the army during the Korean war that none of us even knew, even my mother. Mom and Dad were married 40 years at the time of his death. This year would have been their 50th. The amount I miss him I am sure is NOTHING compared to her missing him. They were a team. OK so I babble (what else is new?).

My reason to this post was to share something a few weeks after my passed away. It was a Saturday and most people know Peter and I go to mass every Saturday night. We go with my mom, my sister Annette and her husband and four girls, and my sister Jeanne, her husband and three girls. After mass we go to dinner. On Saturday, March 27th a few weeks after my dad had died I was at Mass in deep prayer when I looked down at my shoulder and saw a feather. I took the feather and put it in my pocket. At dinner I shared what had happened and told my family that I believed Dad or a guardian angel was present and lost a feather. I shared this while all teary eyed. To which my family, laughingly said "yeah that's right Sue an angel left its feather!" They made me feel a bit foolish but I kept my feather anyways. The next morning my phone began ringing early. Two of my sisters had called to tell me to read the Sunday funnies. Specifically "The Family Circus." When I did I laughed and cried. What a precious gift. I have kept it over the years and found it today and thought I would share it on my blog.

The first caption reads"No, Love.-- we don't see many angels in our yard"
The second caption reads "the feather is probably from a pigeon."