Anniversaries are not so bad...

I could not let this day go by without paying tribute to my Dad. 9/11 meant a lot to my father & now it holds yet another Anniversary for our family, our father's death. Yes of all days to die on he died on "Patriot's Day". This anniversary sort of sneaked up on us. Life with four toddlers can be quite CRAZY so when I looked at the calendar a few days ago & saw it was almost 9/11. I realized it has been two years since he passed away! Two WILD, AMAZING, seemed short yet really LONG, sad & laughter filled years! WOW! AFTER he had his stroke I practically begged him to attend some sort of adult activity instead of sit at home in his wheelchair staring at the TV. He had certain shows that he would watch OVER & OVER again. Golden Girls, Little House on the Prairie, etc. I wanted him to get out amongst other people his age but NO he would have no part of it! He & practically half of my family fought me but in the end I prevailed & he started attending St Elizabeth Adult Day Care. For awhile now we mentioned going by St Elizabeth for a visit but it never came to fruition. My Mom & I decided today was going to be the day to visit this old haunt of his. It is this AWESOME place for seniors not far from my parents home. A bus would pick him up in the morning. He would do crafts, games, talk about current events. It was WONDERFUL! They even gave him a nickname, FPL Bob! {In Florida the power company is named FPL & they used to have a commercial with a man named Bob} He LOVED that! Once the babies were born he would go there with pictures & brag about them. My niece would say that Grandpa was at school because he rode a bus. Trust me those years after his stroke were HARD! I do not know how my mom handled him but she did. Luckily my father lived to see the first 7 months of our children's lives. They were his pride & joy. SO on the Second Anniversary of his death I knew I had to take them to see where Grandpa used to go. We talked about this the entire ride over there. The tribe exuded excitement. The sad part was that I think they really thought they were going to see their Grandpa instead of seeing where he USED to go. )= As we walked in the door the woman in charge said these must me Bob Mechtly's grandchildren! She remembered him & us! That made me happy! She even remembered how he did NOT want to go in the beginning but towards the end he wanted to go all the time! Yes that was my Dad! We brought them some medical items ie: Depends, bed liners, things they can always use. The tribe was on their BEST behavior, I was SO proud! We took a tour so the tribe could see where Grandpa used to go to "school". They even have some pet birds which the tribe flocked to! LOL!The place was decorated like a castle from the Renaissance era. SO beautiful! One of the women there decorates the place for each season. She takes whatever donated materials they get & hand paints them in a theme! AMAZING talent! She was already working on painting Gingerbread to turn the center into a Gingerbread House! TOO cool! As we left there we had such a good feeling! It seems that as more time goes on...

Anniversaries are not so bad!...