Mar. 4: Dad’s day

Today Dad’s on my mind more than usual because it’s his birthday. He would have been 67, had he not passed away unexpectedly in 2005.



This photo is from a surprise party Kathy and I threw for Dad on his 43rd birthday. I don’t remember our line of thinking as to why this was a birthday worthy of a big celebration, but its unremarkability is probably how we pulled off the surprise. He always acted irritated when we put him in the spotlight, but he loved us for it anyway.

Like when we were on a monorail in Las Vegas and Kathy and I started telling other people in the car that the guy on the bench behind us was our dad but he was ignoring us because we were embarrassing him even though he sat there laughing to himself. You could tell he was torn between wanting to knock our heads together and group-hug us.

Here’s my 2008 tribute to Dad on his birthday. I wrote on this day in 2007, but had just returned from our anniversary trip to Florida and the Caribbean and didn’t give it the attention it deserved. Still, reading it again just now reminded me that we share this day with the Baughman girls too. Bless you, Cherie, Shelly, and Lori. I didn’t blog on Dad’s birthday in 2006, but Kathy and I had this tribute printed in The Oregonian that day (misspelled heading was not ours, and fixed before going to print).



Dad, you are missed tremendously. You are loved even more. On our calendars, this day is always going to be yours.

Where you used to be, there is a hole in the world, which I find myself constantly walking around in the daytime, and falling in at night. I miss you like hell. ~Edna St. Vincent Millay