Turned one year older today. I’ve certainly had enough birthdays to allow the occasion to pass quietly. However, this year was different.<\/p>\n
Beyond the texts and calls, there was one voice that was not here today. Dad’s.<\/p>\n
Dad is around – don’t get me wrong. Physically he is here (Austin) … but ‘dementia’ has quietened him. As the day progressed today, I began to be saddened by this for probably the first time in the year that it has really hit him.<\/p>\n
This is the first birthday in my life where he has not called – which really hit me. Since I moved out of Texas in 1992, he would also ALWAYS send me a card that would arrive EXACTLY on the day. He was always very proud of that – that he could time USPS for the card to land on my birthday.<\/p>\n
“Did you get my card?” he would ask when he called, always knowing the answer.<\/p>\n
Heading into October, I guess I kind of expected the absence of that silly tradition. Tina and I celebrated our 21st wedding anniversary on the 11th – and no card (his card execution was beyond birthdays, too). So I wasn’t surprised, per se. But it hurt today.<\/p>\n
I realized that I won’t ever see another card from my father again. It sucks more than I ever imagined it would.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Turned one year older today. I’ve certainly had enough birthdays to allow the occasion to pass quietly. However, this year was different. Beyond the texts and calls, there was one voice that was not here today. Dad’s. Dad is around – don’t get me wrong. Physically he is here (Austin) … but ‘dementia’ has quietened […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[81],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s2toiQ-birthday","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":835,"url":"http:\/\/efoxley.com\/dope\/?p=835","url_meta":{"origin":1267,"position":0},"title":"Finally … Pierced Ears","author":"admin","date":"0606.0707.1313","format":false,"excerpt":"Elyce finally got her ears pierced in celebration of her upcoming 10th Birthday.","rel":"","context":"In "kids"","block_context":{"text":"kids","link":"http:\/\/efoxley.com\/dope\/?cat=18"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/efoxley.com\/dope\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/ElyceEars-225x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":427,"url":"http:\/\/efoxley.com\/dope\/?p=427","url_meta":{"origin":1267,"position":1},"title":"give. That is all.","author":"admin","date":"0707.2929.1111","format":false,"excerpt":"Saw the story of this little girl on NBC tonight. She died shortly after this simple birthday wish. GIVE!","rel":"","context":"In "charity"","block_context":{"text":"charity","link":"http:\/\/efoxley.com\/dope\/?cat=67"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/efoxley.com\/dope\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/waterForAfrica1-300x155.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":949,"url":"http:\/\/efoxley.com\/dope\/?p=949","url_meta":{"origin":1267,"position":2},"title":"A Build for Elyce","author":"admin","date":"0303.2929.1414","format":false,"excerpt":"Gavin and I spent the morning building Elyce her new computer ... He doesn't look very thrilled here, because he is beginning to understand that this computer may actually be as fast as his own. 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I remember Tina and I were getting ready for work that morning, living\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "history"","block_context":{"text":"history","link":"http:\/\/efoxley.com\/dope\/?cat=35"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":381,"url":"http:\/\/efoxley.com\/dope\/?p=381","url_meta":{"origin":1267,"position":5},"title":"Tornadic (just made that adjective up) Devastation","author":"admin","date":"0505.2626.1111","format":false,"excerpt":"'Commuting' to Tennessee like I am right now, the nights that I have been spending here seem to be getting more stressful with all of the tornadoes in this area of the country. 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