It has always been interesting to me how and when certain memories pop into your head and what they do for you or what they remind you of.

I forgot what day today is. That is also a funny thing to me and still has me shaking my head. This whole month I have been looking at it from afar. Always keeping a sideways glance at the calendar and checking the date. Feeling like I am hiding from it. “A few more days yet,” I would tell myself. How do you ‘forget’ something you have been watching out for? Seemingly looking to get past, for whatever reason? Even now my heart is racing for no reason other than just thinking of it. Why I feel like hiding from it, I do not have a handle on.

Anyway, on my way to work this morning, taking a slower, more enjoyable route than normal through the neighborhoods while having a conversation with someone on the phone, I remembered my Grandparent’s old house. At present I can not remember what lead that memory to the front of my mind, but that is not what is important I guess.

It was a great and grand house steeped in memories and stories of all kinds. Mostly all happy and warm. Some sad even still. I have told you about this grand house before. I wish it was still around and in the family. Anyway, the memory of the house brought a big smile to my face as I shared the story on the phone, as only sharing a happy memory with someone in your life can.

That smile stayed on my face as I walked into the office and sat down at my desk. I turned on my computer monitors and bam.

There it was.

That date staring me right in the face.

Uh. Hey there, how are you? It has been a while. A whole year since I have seen your face. A whole year since my Mother’s Father passed on from this earthly life into his eternal Heavenly home.

Anniversaries are as interesting as the memories associated with them. There are good ones and there are not so good ones. The point is, the AHA moment in it all that I had this morning while basking in the memory, is to remember and focus on the happy and warm memories. The good times that bring a smile to your face. The positive. Celebrate it. Let them grow. Share them. Shine that light for others.

Let the sad or the bad or the negative go, just like that rain on your duck fathers. No matter what the occasion of the anniversary.

Do not hide from a silly date. It is not the date that is actually important. The date comes and goes just like any other day of the year, every year. That is how time goes, around and around. The simple fact that I felt like I was hiding from it, and it took me until now to even realize it, intrigues me more than anything. Like grave sites. The person you lost is not there at the grave. Just their earthly remains are there. The date means nothing. The memories and the celebration of life go on every day.

I could be sad today. Sad that he is gone and no longer here. Sad that I did not have more time with him. Sad that everyone did not have more time with him. Sad that I did not write down every story he ever told. Sad that there are people in my life that never got to meet him. Sad that I can not sit and listen to music with him today. Sad that I can not ask him questions.

I could do that. But I will not.

He lived an extraordinary and storied life and went home to the Lord in the best way possible. He left an impact, that is for dang sure. He lives on in each and every one of us. Maybe a little more in me than some of my cousins if you ask certain people in my family, but I see him in everyone.

Today and every day I celebrate his life and his memory.

There will be no tears today. At least not sad ones. Only happy ones if they demand to come to the party.

Is that enough rambling for a Tuesday?

Walk in love, dear readers. Go celebrate!