10 years

My Dad has been in heaven for 10 years.  

 When he died, he only had 3 grandchildren.  Now there are 16 plus 2 bonus grandchildren who are now married and having babies of their own.
I think he'd be pretty proud of us.

The kids who were close enough, got together to visit the grave and the monument.
This is the Icelandic monument that is in Spanish Fork near the home my dad grew up in.  You couldn't have been around my dad for more than a few hours before he started spouting his pride in his Icelandic heritage.  This monument has a big plaque that lists the names of all the people who came from Iceland to make a home in Spanish Fork.  My dad's grandparents names are on that plaque.  I come from good stock (at least that's what my dad said nearly every day of my life.)

We went to a park after that and let the kids play while we talked about dad.  Jenny made a questionnaire that made us all laugh in our memories of dad.  We talked about his favorite songs and favorite sayings.  We laughed about how mentioning something like San Francisco, for example, would get dad bursting into song. "Are you going to San Francisco?"  Or mentioning England would result in "England swings like a pendulum do, Bobbies on bicycles two by two".  He had the same old jokes, or catch phrases that he'd use at restaurants or stores.  I had forgotten some of them and had fun laughing about the ones my siblings remembered.  Like when the cashier would ask "Did you find everything you needed?"  He'd say "well, I wasn't looking for everything..."
Or, when a waitress asked how he was doing, he'd say "well...things are okay...except for this sore wrist.  I've also got a sore ankle from a skiing injury that I got when I was younger.  My knees are a bit sore and I woke up with a bit of a headache..." and on and on until us kids would have liked to disappear under the table.
One of his lines was "whether a job be big or small, do it right or not at all".  Another one was when he'd ask us to list a favorite number.  I'd always say 3.  He'd say "well, mine is 9 trillion, 3 billion, 5 million...you gotta think big Sue.  You gotta think big."
He would also point to a lot and say "what does that look like to you Sue?"
I'd say "a vacant lot?"
He'd say "I see a bunch of storage units or a 4 plex.  You gotta have vision Sue.  You gotta have vision.  Some people don't have vision.  You gotta have vision."
We laughed about his attempts to speak Spanish to every Latino he met.
We joked that if he were here, he'd be even more deaf than before and speaking even louder than ever.  He'd probably be driving around the blue Thunderbird that came out just before he died.  He thought that was a beautiful car.
He'd burst with pride knowing that my brother Warren is a successful orthodontist who built his own building and has 4 beautiful kids.  They have made a great life and have a cute little family.
I think he'd love that my sister Lori's husband works for the church and gets to go into General Authority's homes to work on their appliances.  He'd love to pop in on her with her cute kids and have lunch every once in a while.
He'd get a kick out of the post office that we own and I know he'd love to watch my kids as they grow up.  I think he'd be proud of the way Mike and I live our lives.
He'd love that Jenny has some red headed kids and would be so proud of all her military accomplishments.  He'd be excited to be a great grandpa too.
He would love Alana and be so proud of Steve that his eyes would water.  He'd love that he made it through dental school and that he is a man of honor.
He would be proud of what my mom has done with all the projects that he got started and then never got to finish.  She has held our family together and helped us along the way in the things that we face.  She has put together his life history and helped to keep his memory alive for all of us and our kids.
I have said "pride" and "proud" a lot, but that's because when I picture my dad, I picture him with a big smile on his face, tears in his eyes, and so much love that he was bursting.  He was always such a prideful father and boasted of our accomplishments to anyone who would listen.  I say those words with a positive spin.  We knew we could do anything we put our minds to because mom and dad believed in us.
I am so thankful to have had my dad.  I think of him often when I think of things he'd love about this world that we live in.  I would love to have him here.  I would love to hear his wise words of advise.  I would love to get a phone call every now and then and hear him chuckle over a joke.  I would love to see the pride and joy in his eyes as he looked at his "flock" of grandchildren.  But since it can't be...I will just remind myself of the comfort I take that he has Sam, and Sam has him.  He and Sam can work together as missionaries, and help us from their side of the veil.
 So...here's to 10 years.  I don't think I could have imagined coming from the grief that June 4th 10 years ago to where I am now.  I have been crying off and on as I write this post, but I smile a lot more at his memory than cry.  What a good man to call my dad.