say thank you to the people who have made a difference in my life.

For being there for me and accepting my foibles.

They really came together to help me out during my pre op/surgery/post op time. I’m glad they got to go on vacation together.

For launching my career and encouraging the part of me that wants to do things the right way, even if it isn’t the convenient way.

Thank you for teaching me to fish. For telling me to “Think like a worm” when realing in my purple plastic worms. I didn’t catch a whole lot of fish – not enough patience or maybe I didn’t think enough like a worm – but I caught you wonderful pipe tobaco smell, your attention to detail, your huge heart, your (and Dad’s and your whole family’s) love of the outdoors. I live near a lake now, and I hope to cast a line or 3 this summer, and catch some of those memories. Thank You, uncle.

Thank You for loving me like your own. For fishing trips and letting me “sneak” your Jergin’s lotion when we visited. It wasn’t until I was old enough to have 8 year old girls of my own that I realized what a Gift that was. I let them “sneak” Jergin’s lotion, too. I still use the original Cherry-Almond scent, and I think of you every time I do. ... Thank you for trips to Hawaii, your birthplace, when we were young. Seeing where you and Dad grew up, smelling the ocean that you two played in, “picking seaweed” like “in the old days” – this gave me a sense of history, of continuity that many children do not have these days. I have roots. I have a foundation. Much of it built by you. Thank you.

Miss you, Dad. Didn’t really realize what a blessing you were until I was well over 30. Thank you for the camping trips when we were young, for yelling at us when we strayed off course so we knew the difference between Right & Wrong, for book cases built together and cars worked on, for the love you showered on my kids and for the love and acceptance that you showed both of my husbands. Thank you for loving my Mom enough to stay together “Until Death Do You Part” – it was a wonderful gift. Thank you for showing me how to live. And thank you for showing me how to die with grace and dignity. I’m not afraid to grow old and die now. I am trying to pass the Gifts and Blessings that you gave to my children and my grandchild. Thank You, Dad.

But I will list them here. If there is a Heaven, pehaps they will see my post or hear my heart. Others, I will thank before they die.