Dear Dad, Happy Birthday!

Dear Dad,

Happy birthday! I love thinking about you still and knowing you are with our Lord Jesus and no longer having to take any pills or worry about what to eat. I wonder exactly what you do up there in heaven and if there are any cats around.

This has been quite a year for us. I wish you could see how much getting our house insulated has helped. I think you would have been proud of me for doing that. Something you probably would think was silly of us that we did last summer was to play softball again. We didn’t play very well, but we certainly had fun. It felt good to play again.

We got a dog in June! She gets along fine with our cats—they even do noses sometimes. When she barks loud, the cats just disappear for awhile but at least she doesn’t chase them. She’s a wonderful dog and Gerard really likes walking with her. She’ll go with him no matter what the weather, unlike me. Wish you could meet her, she’s a great dog!

In July I was diagnosed with Breast Cancer. That was the worst part of our year, but fortunately it was discovered early and hadn’t spread. In fact, in a way it proved to be a good thing. I got to take off work with full pay after the lumpectomy and then just go back part-time from Oct. 24 through Dec. 19. It came at a good time because work was so slow I got very bored and so really enjoyed being off. I sure look forward to retirement! The other good news was that I did not need Chemo, just radiation treatments for 33 days which didn’t hurt at all, didn’t take much time because they were at Parma Hospital, so close by. It was sort of a hassle having to go to all the doctor appointments and then paying the big bills but at least everything went well and I’m still alive!

I’m sorry to say the book I wrote in your memory has not become the best-seller I had hoped for, but I’m still glad I wrote it. I tried not to make it too embarrassing for you, focusing on your love for us and just some of the things you did that I thought were funny. I wanted to keep it a short, easy read so people wouldn’t get bored. I can say that people who read it liked it and I didn’t get any bad reviews on Amazon for it.

I still miss your cats and feel really bad I couldn’t take them, but I have kept up with the $100 donation every month to the Caroline’s Kid’s Pet Rescue cat sanctuary in their memory.

You’d also be glad to know that I still have a considerable amount of money left in our bank account from selling your house. That really gave us a nice emergency fund so we are in good shape. Both Gerard and I still have jobs even though many people are out of work now. The economy is really bad, not like the depression that you lived through, but some people are really hurting a lot financially.

Gerard and I are still going to the Parma Heights Baptist Church and like it. I am still teaching 5th grade boys which is fun for me. We both helped in Vacation Bible School again and I helped with Sports Camp last summer too. We have the Christmas puppet presentation coming up on my birthday.

I am so glad you are not suffering any more but still miss you. I keep your picture on my desk at work still and also on my computer desk at home. I’ll always love you and mom very much and thank you for being such wonderful parents. It’s time to start working on my Christmas cards which always reminds me of our last Christmas together when you sent yours out after Christmas! That motivates me to get going on them.

Love always,
Karen

To find out more about my book and why I wrote it, read the Foreword here.
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