YO- Daddy -O!

Every year since my father and husband passed away, we all struggle just a little bit to figure out ways to continue to celebrate them on Father’s Day. As the years move on (12 years now), the kids and I are starting to laugh again at the memories of my father –

Always choosing the seats up front at St. Matthews church for midnight mass (us stumbling in after drinking way too much Christmas Eve Wine and my Dad standing up and waving at us –“Over here, I saved you all seats!” and us dying…)

Or my husband Carl, jumping down the stairs in Dover, London – and hitting Golf Balls into the English Channel – until the Bobbies came by…to ask us what we were doing…

The memories are super sweet, and they also tug at the heartstrings a little – knowing it was so long ago.

So, I write this with my heart still heavy but full because we now celebrate my son Nathan and his fabulously hilarious son Noah Jude.

Noah was a gift bestowed upon our family, and each year he gets more curious and funnier. We all know he is a little bit of my dad (P. Gus) and my late husband (Carl) – how the mannerisms and things he says come out – bringing us all to chuckle and smile that the inheritance and mannerisms still live on through Noah.

There was a time when Noah was little, I would wonder what type of father–son relationship he would have with Nathan – and it is beyond anything I could have ever dreamed of – 2 peas in a pod.

Nathan mentioned one day that he prayed to God to know what his life imprint was supposed to be, and then God gave him a son, and he said he knew it was his job to raise him and support him – because Noah is the future. It was a moment every mom wants to realize when your own kids acknowledge that being a parent is the highest order we can get in real life. As we watch our grandkids and see their parental relationships grow, it truly is a beautiful thing to witness. True Father-Son Love.

This year, I say Cheers to my Dad and Late Husband for all the beautiful memories, and to my son Nathan, I say-

Happy Father’s Day – You Truly are the greatest Daddy O to Noah!

Xoxo,

Mom AKA Esther