Yesterday, March 30, was the 5th anniversary of my dad’s death. My heart still needs to honor his life and share my memories, so thank you for sitting here with me.

Every day for the last 5 years of his life, I would pick up breakfast and eat with him before I went to work, and take him supper after I got off. Every Sunday morning we’d pick him up and enjoy a leisurely breakfast at the Bistro. He would always be spiffed up in dress pants, dress shirt, sometimes a tie, and his dress cowboy hat. A couple of evenings a week he and I would go out for supper. He loved people and it was his opportunity to socialize and see friends from his past, especially at the J & L! I was his taxi driver, secretary, personal shopper, nurse, best friend and daughter. My two precious respite caregivers would care for him when Gary and I needed to be out of town.

Even though time has eased my grief, I wrote this in my journal yesterday…. “I miss his smile, his laughter, his hugs, and the handshake he would always give me when I dropped him off at his apartment after a meal out or an appointment of some sort. He would shake my hand, smile his twinkle smile, and tell me “thank you” for caring for him. He was always grateful and never failed to express his gratitude to Gary and me.

This song by Vince Gill is the story of my dad’s life. He weathered a life of alcoholism and the destruction it brings, to be a sober, humble, grateful, peaceful man in the last few years of his life. He lived a simple quiet life knowing that Jesus loved him and had forgiven his dark, sordid past.

“I wish I could see the angel’s faces when they hear your sweet voice sing.”

Go Rest High on That Mountain

Vince Gill

I know your life
On earth was troubled
And only you could know the pain.
You weren’t afraid to face the devil,
You were no stranger to the rain. Go rest high on that mountain
Son, your work on earth is done.
Go to heaven a-shoutin’
Love for the Father and the Son. Oh, how we cried the day you left us
We gathered round your grave to grieve.
I wish I could see the angels faces
When they hear your sweet voice sing. Go rest high on that mountain
Son, your work on earth is done.
Go to heaven a-shoutin’
Love for the Father and the Son.

Source: LyricFindSongwriters: Vincent Grant GillGo Rest High on That Mountain lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.