Happy Heavenly Birthday Dad

So you’ve already been gone 8 months, I still struggle to believe how even now

I expect to see you in your chair, like the air we breathe you were always there

A smile, a little wave was all you could muster, yet to me, it was an overwhelming gesture

I’ll know for my life you’re here in my heart, and the hearts of my children, you were there from the start

The earliest memories I have, branded on my soul, you in my world made sense, made me whole

I’d run through your legs with a giggle and grin, your laughter and warmth was a game we’d both win

How is it 8 months? Where has that time gone!? That’s half of a year, yet my grief rages on

Today it’s your birthday, you’d be 83, a life story of more courage could never be told

Your legacy lives on in the eyes of your children, my children and their children would honour your life

I’m feeling such sorrow right now for your wife. My mother, your partner in life and in love

I know you are watching her now from above. She misses you, your warmth.  you’ve left a huge hole

Your passing, our loss, the silence…it’s taking its toll

I’m grateful you’d found me, in a world so uncertain

You hung on in there, chose your own final curtain

I still can’t believe this chapter has ended

We know the old cliché, least said soonest mended

I will speak of you often, to my kids, in my head

It still feels surreal, you’re actually dead

I couldn’t change the outcome, the inevitable, your pain

They say to enjoy every rainbow, you must embrace the rain

I see you in rainbows, in robins, in a cloud

When I’m walking in woodland, I chat to you out loud

It’s a comfort, a privilege to remember your pride, your courage and patience, we know how you tried

The falls and the pain, yet you had a full glass

No half full for you, positive to the last

I hope where you are, you are healed, rested, calm

Watching us here, Gran and Grandad at your arm

Warm sunshine gives a glow to your face

Your easy smile, that glint in your eye, softly spoken, your charm

On the date of your birth, like an angel on earth

You were destined to live a true, meaningful life

You helped raise us, three children, had an adoring wife

Many who knew you were privileged to find

A genuine gentleman with the sharpest of mind

Your Friends, family, carers and all who met you

Would be touched by your gentle nature, always so kind

I know no one’s perfect, I’ll admit this is true,

But I totally worshipped the ground that you walked on

No one comes close, in my eyes, and I hope that you knew

My heart aches and I miss you, can’t accept that you’re gone

The day you were born ‘A Christmas Carol’, the film was released

A true Classic,  timeless seasonal feast

Ironic how the day I was born, I was named Carol, a Christmas Day baby

Then fate brought me to you as if written in stars

The future was ours, our bond grew and grew

My heart remains broken, I know you had to go

I carry you with me and really hope you know

Just how much I love you still and how I loved you then

Happy Heavenly Birthday Dad,

Until we meet again xx