Happy Father's Day!

In my mind and my heart I will always celebrate my father!
It's been nearly 26 years since he took his own life.
This was back when depression and things like Prozac were
not talked about because it might indicate that the rest of
the family might be "nuts". Suicide was a term that we,
as a family, quickly discovered had a badge of shame that
came along with it. I mean, how could you possibly explain
this? What did we do to him? How could we let it happen,
or better, how could you not see this? I was 21.
My mom was 45, Tim was 25, Scott was 23, Anne was 12 and
Mike almost 9. Tough new life for a single mom.We are all
suicide survivors. There should be a ribbon for that too.

We learn in our living that we were not responsible for
other peoples actions....only our own. So how do you move
forward? How do you heal? Family. Everything always comes
down to family. You stick together. Always. Siblings, no
matter how different we are our basic need is to be accepted
and loved. And in my family? We are. I love and miss my dad.
Sadly now I realize that I've lived more of my life without
him than with him. Did I mention that I miss my dad?

Happy Father's Day to all the dads here on earth and in
the Heaven!