Happy Birthday Dad!!

Today is my Dad's 89th birthday(and Valentine's Day) and I just can't let a milestone like that go without celebrating it!  Tonight all his kids, grandkids and great grand kids will get together and celebrate with him.  He moves a little slower now and lives in a assisted living place but to me he'll always be my big strong Daddy who would do anything for his family.  He was a very young Marine in WW2 who seen so many terrible things in the South Pacific fighting.  He never talked about that time while I was growing up, I knew he was in the war but I never knew about the details.  He only started talking about them in his later years.  It makes you realize the sacrifices our men and women in the armed forces make.  The other day he pulled a old photo out of his wallet with six young men in the photo, one was my Dad.  He said they were his best buddies in high school but three of them never made it back from the war. He is the last of the group.  He lost the love of his life in 2001 and he lost his only son five years after Mom died.  He still chokes up about the loss of a child.  He tells me it's not suppose to be that way.  He has good days now and some bad days.  But I am so grateful to still have him here with us and he still knows who we all are, so that it a huge blessing.  Somedays he remembers the past like it just happened and I'm talking like 1940's  past..he can tell you details.  And somedays he's very confused but either way we will all get together tonight and celebrate a man who loves his family and who showed me by example what family is and what integrity is.  I'm a blessed girl because my heavenly Father gave me the best earthly father a girl could have.  Love you Dad and though you'll probably never see this post I hope you know how much you are loved.