Thanks, Dad, for being an example to me. Twice today I was reminded that being true to myself pays off on the end. And that often we have no idea what the impact of honesty will be.
Recently, in idle conversation at work (waiting for a process to run), I referred to you, and shortly thereafter, this near stranger asked a question directly related to you. My surprise was in the fact that he picked up on the connection I still feel with you. And that I had never considered the possibility of folowing in your work footsteps.
The truth is, what I most wanted to follow in were your values. I don't always measure up, but my yardstick is also skewed because you're gone. And because I miss you.
You live on in the boys for me. Both because they have bits of you in their looks, some expressions, and in their memories, and because I sometimes hear your heart in what they paraphrase back to me. You always had a way of making people feel real and important. And I'm pretty sure that's because everyone was.
The example you set for love of neighbor was one that I truly did not appreciate until now. We in your family were all your favorites--you said so all the time. I still feel it--your favorite daughter in Pennsylvania, your favorite Stephania. But it was more than just talk. You had a gift for seeing individuals; for finding (and quickly!) that unique thing that made each person stand out.
What I'm realizing is that you did that simply out of being you, not as some effort you'd learned was important or useful. You were you. And no one else.
Your you is very different from me, as it should be. But the way you made me feel lives on, and I do my best to pass it on by being me. The me I do best.
Among my blessings each night, I count you. I love you, and I miss you.
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