Don't Need a Day to Remember a Special Person

Today was a busy day at home for me.  I had a list of items that I wanted to complete in order for us to leave for Bloomington tomorrow.  Making it more challenging was the fact that I just didn't feel well.  I slowly kept working on my to-do list trying not to sit down as I was positive that I would never get back up once I took a break.  It wasn't all work today as I had a haircut this morning with Amanda and took a walk with Paula.  It was nice to get out of the house and catch up with both of them as well.

When I finally got home at 5:30 this afternoon, I did finally sit down for a little while.  I was absolutely exhausted and thought that I would take a break and work on the computer.  I opened up Facebook and my feed exploded with memories from this date.  That's when it dawned on me that today would have been Paw Paw's 99th birthday.  I loved looking back at the pictures and made sure to post something right away.

At first I felt bad for not remembering the date, but after I really thought about it, today was no different than any other day.  I hadn't forgot about Paw Paw today as he's in my memory every day.  There's never a day that goes by when I don't see something in our house that reminds me of him or think of a story that he told me or talk to my Mom, or Doug or one of the Heinisch children about something that he did.  Paw Paw was a huge part of my life and still is.  He supported me in everything I did.  Even when I visited him in the hospital after he was diagnosed with cancer, the first thing he said to me was, "I have to get out of here.  I'm supposed to watch the little guy (Cameron) tomorrow."  Yes, I still wish he was here today to celebrate his birthday with us.  The "little guy" and I would have loved stopping by to drop off some limburger cheese and Crown Royal in honor of the day.  We would have enjoyed hearing one more story or making one more wager on football.  Since that's not possible, I am so incredibly thankful that I have all of those memories surrounding me every day, so even though he's not physically here, he's always just a thought away.  

Happy Birthday Crap Pa - thanks for loving me, no matter what!