Remembering My Dad....

Fifteen years ago my Dad passed away......seems just a moment ago He was out here visiting teaching my son how to ride a two wheeler....or pruning my lilac bush---kind of more like scalping it:)....gifting me top soil for Mother's day....letting me help him with his early morning snow plowing back in Cleveland.....taking walks with me at the Holden Arboretum in Ohio....eating salad with his fingers to irritate us all....dressing up at Halloween as a witch....teaching me to identify trees by their bark.....bringing home stale day old cherry pies we kids loved....buying strawberry banana ice cream and dishing it out....letting me get a beagle dog from family camp to be my dog.....supporting me when I spoke at church about campus protests during the Vietnam War to my Mother's embarrasment.....asking me to make him bread pudding ....throwing snowballs....playing catch with me....telling everyone I was the athelete in the family...cheering me on when I beat the boys canoe racing....yes...it seems just like yesterday only it's been so long and I miss him dearly..
     This collage has a collection of my Dad and me , and my brothers and I and Dad, my mom and dad , my Dad as a witch and another of me and my Dad..Dad in his military WWII uiform..Dad standing at a tree ceremony...so here's to you Dad!!!
    TO THOSE....
            Who have survived winters past
             Who still survive winters yet to come
                Who never stop believing
                   That flowers will grow!!!  ..James Kavanaugh