Happy Fathers’ Day!

We were supposed to have beautiful weather in Minnesota today for our dads, but after a promising start in the morning of warm temps and lots of sun, a cool rain has moved in, ruining all plans for picnics and grilling. The weather people were totally wrong on this one!

I shut all my windows. I put on my jeans and now I’m freezing in the middle of June.

I went out to the cemetery this morning. I always catch the “after church” time when people like to head out to Fort Snelling to visit loved ones.

The cemetery was crowded as many people were there to remember husbands, fathers and grandfathers. Even though I get annoyed whenever there are lots of people in the cemetery, I’m glad to see so many of the dead are remembered by their families.

One of Ray’s daughters left a nice note on Facebook about her dad, plus she used one of my photos of him! One of Ray’s granddaughters left a comment about being a Pepsi addict just like him.

Yes, the Pepsi. Ray would buy tons of 12 packs of Pepsi whenever it was on sale. He’d stack them up in the kitchen after settling a bunch of cans in the fridge. He never went anywhere without a can of Pepsi.

Even though Ray was an alcoholic through his children’s childhoods (something he wished he could have changed), after he sobered up, he was the ultimate dad, diapering and babysitting grandchildren, going to swim meets and basketball games, and always being there when he was needed.

He was the one who his granddaughter contacted when she found her mother hanging in the basement. Ray’s oldest daughter committed suicide by hanging herself and her 13 year old daughter found her when she came home from school. Ray was the one she called and stayed on the phone with him until the police and ambulance came.

Ray was the one who comforted another one of his daughters when her partner died from brain cancer.

We were all lucky to have him in our lives.

Fathers’ Day is one of those sneaky kind of holidays. The emotions associated with it aren’t as obvious as Christmas, but the memories still flood in for me, even after four and a half years without him.

Susan and I packed our dogs into the flower van (two lab mixes and a beagle) and went to the new dog park in St Paul before it started raining. The dogs managed to get some good running and socializing in before the raindrops started to fall. Asher and the boys are on their way to 6 Flags in Illinois, so it was just us.

Now it’s a quiet and rainy afternoon. Joe is watching Tiger Woods fade into the sunset in the US Open. And we’re waiting for the NBA Finals to resume tonight. Can Oklahoma City beat Miami?