Thinking of you Dad

Luckily, I had been there visiting from Minnesota for about a week and had just flown back the day he died.

I arrived in Minneapolis around 4:00 pm and decided to stay overnight at my son’s house before making the long, 4-hour drive home to Angora.

And a few minutes after 10:00 pm, my brother called to say that Dad had passed away. He was sitting at his computer desk, enjoying the slideshow of photos I had just loaded on his computer earlier in the day.

Now, not a day has gone by without some remembrance of him coming to the surface of my consciousness.

Some of those memories bring tears and feelings of loss and anger, but many are happy, smiling, laughing, and grateful.

Gone are the almost-daily early-morning phone calls to see how things are going up here in the Northland of Minnesota.

Moving across the country

You see, my Dad was born in Fergus Falls, Minnesota, where it gets really cold in the winter. But when Dad was only 9 years old, the family moved to Washington State, where the temperatures were mild, especially in the winter.

And then, back in the mid-1960s, Dad moved his family from Washington State to warm, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Where he, Mom, and my two brothers continued to live for the better part of 40 years.

My hubby, John, and I have lived up here in northern Minnesota, in Angora, near the Iron Range, for about 10 years now.

It’s not unusual at all for the temperatures to drop to -30º up here in Minnesnowda in the winter.

Since Dad was born and raised in northern Minnesota, he was always calling me, interested in hearing just how cold it was up in our neck of the woods.

But now, the mornings since his passing have been so unnervingly quiet for me; something’s just not right.

Gone too are our afternoon advice calls for help with his computer or him giving me promotional advice on my website, blog, press releases, or any of the other millions of ways he helped me succeed in the arts.

Now, whenever something “clicks” for me or something wonderful has happened, I have to stop myself midway through calling his phone number.

That’s when I come to the realization that he’s no longer at the other end of the phone to hear the good news.

Spiritual Encounters

I’ve always thought that the spirits of our loved ones stay with us and are there whenever we call on them.

So on the drive home from Minneapolis, the day after I heard Dad passed, something very unusual happened to me to confirm the belief that his spirit was still near.

I’ve driven that 300-mile stretch from the Twin Cities to our home up north on the Iron Range many, many times and never noticed one single car with an Oklahoma license plate going by, ever.

When I saw the first car with the Oklahoma license plate pass me, I thought that was rather unusual, and it immediately brought my thoughts back to Dad.

And when the second one with an Oklahoma license passed about an hour later, I really thought that was strange.

But when the THIRD car passed me about 15 minutes later, also sporting an Oklahoma license plate, I knew that it was Dad trying to make an impression. Saying for sure he’s flying right there beside me and wanted to make certain I knew it!

Life Goes On…

Lately, Mom has been going through his things and sent me several packages of birthday cards, newspaper clippings, art exhibition announcements, emails, and other “stuff” that I sent him over the years.

Little did I know that he kept all that stuff in a folder with my name on it.  Mom said the folder was so big that she could hardly get it out of the filing cabinet!

Like father, like daughter, my filing cabinets are full to the brim also. Need to do some serious purging here soon.

Time is healing the wounds, and although Dad was not the best father in the world, nor the best husband, he did teach all of us, four kids, a great deal.

Good and bad lessons combined, hopefully, I’ve filtered out only the good and shared them with my husband, children, and grandchildren.

It’s my belief that we’re all put here on this world at this time, with this circle of family and friends, to learn life’s lessons.  If we don’t listen to what life is trying to tell us and make the right choices, we’ll probably be back for another spin until we get it right.

Many thanks, Dad, for making me the person I am today, so glad I was your daughter. And if I had to do it all over again, I’d do it exactly the same way.

Peace be with you…until we meet again,

Your Loving Daughter

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~~Live Well, Laugh Often, Love Much ~~

Happy Weaving, until next time!