52 lists in 52 weeks//week 3

This week's challenge from A Year in Lists . . . things I learned from my dad. Over nine years my dad has been gone. He died unexpectedly at the age of 68, and it was a shock. There are still days I think I see him drive by in his car; days I think of calling him to tell him something I know he'd be interested in.

He was an affectionate, attentive daddy when I was young, and I look back on my childhood and youth with much pleasure. The dad I knew as a child - the one I looked up to so - became almost unrecognizable when I was an adult. He caused brokenness and pain that was hard to understand. With time, somehow, what he had taught me and how he had loved me helped me accept life's changes, and we were quite close. And for that I will always be grateful.