Happy Father's Day...

To this guy:


And this one:


And him, too:


...but since this blog also serves as my journal, I need a little self-indulgent moment. This is going to be an Uncle Gary post and might get sad, so feel free to stop reading.

My first Father's Day without an Uncle Gary to send a card to was really hard. I remember looking for cards in the Hallmark section of Walmart and finding the "For Uncle" slot. I freaked out and called my mom, hysterically crying. She probably had no idea what I was saying through my gasps and sobs. And I'm sure I was freaking out the other nearby Walmart shoppers. But I couldn't stop crying until I put that card in my cart. Of course, once I bought it, I had no idea what to do with it, which seemed to only make me cry more. Then the Saturday night before Father's Day, I went to the little grocery store near our apartment and bought some balloons. Sure, maybe it was corny, but I tied that card to those balloons and let it go the next morning up in the mountains, alone. There was a nice breeze, so I let go.

And the balloons dropped right to the ground. The helium seemed to have leaked out just enough that the balloons couldn't support the weight of the card. Again, I started sobbing. Even my stupid little gesture wasn't going to work. So out of frustration, with tears in my eyes, I started cutting away at the balloon ribbons with my car keys, hoping that would lighten the weight just enough. I waited for the breeze to come back, held my breath...and it worked. Slowly, the bunch of balloons drifted up, taking the card with them. I must have watched them for half an hour, until they were just a tiny little speck in the sky.

Now I'm not claiming that the card I wrote made it's way to heaven or whatever, but I don't really like to chalk things up to "just coincidence." either. And maybe it took a while for that card to reach him, but I think I got a "Thank You" tonight. I was feeling a little heart broken, wishing that I could just say "Happy Father's Day" to the person who was most like a father to me (aside from my Daddy, obviously) and a song I had never heard came on the radio. {side note: every Saturday night, I listen to "Show Tunes Tonight" on KOSY 106.5...all show tunes, all night long.} And this is the song I heard:



I had just pulled the van into our parking spot when I heard my name in song (which I love anyways). Both of the kids were sleeping, so I turned off the car and sat and listened. And I cried a little. And after I got the kids in bed, I found this video. And listened to it about a million times.

Of course, I can't find the song on iTunes or Amazon or anything, but there is this. (If you know where I can get it, let me know. It's called "Sarah" from "The Civil War" the musical.)

So...Happy Father's Day, Uncle Gary. Hope your cards have been getting to you.