On July 12 of 2011, my father died. He was the most important person in my life – I now (and will forevermore) define my life as “Before” and “After“.

We had his service 5 days after his death, but we never buried him. He was cremated, per his wishes. His family burial plot is located in Blue Rapids, Kansas and everyone in the family wanted to go down together to hold a burial service to reunite Dad with his mother, father and sister – who are already there. It took some time to coordinate everyone’s schedule, and we finally have. This Saturday on May 5th, Dad will finally be laid to rest with his family. It’s been a long 9 months since his death. I sometimes wish we would have made the trip down to Kansas back then, because it just feels like this has been an open issue and looming for so long – - closure would have been welcome long before now. But, it is important that everyone in the family can attend, though, so the wait was necessary.

We are making the 10 hour drive down on Friday and then back home on Sunday.

Find that person in your life today, and tell them…

You made a difference in my life.

You mean everything to me.

I could not have done it without you.

I love you.

I love you, Dad. I miss you so much.