its taken me longer to be able to do this than I expected. The loss has been far more than I could ever imagine. But the reflection has caused me to cry and smile and sometime both at the same time. Most outside of our family would never have known the next fact...my dad was not my biological parent. This fact was known my me failry early in life and i must say, was not always an easy thing for a young man to accept. The fact that my actual biological father seemed to have " pawned" his responsibilty off to my mom and dad always seemed to bother me...at least until i was a young man. My dad used to tell me that one day i would appricate what he and my mother did for not only me but all of their children. As with most things...my dad was correct. I distinctly remember a time when i was in my early twenties, actually realizing that he was in fact correct and i amazingly " removed my head from my rearend" ( a term dad liked to use, albiet not the exact phrase). As a teenager, i caused my parents more than my share of grief and you know what....they both continued to love, support and accept me for all that I am. Dad showed me thoughout his life, how to be tolerent, loving and respectful. I could not have asked for a better father and I miss him terribly now. Over the years, as we all move around and begin families of our own, we tend to drfit away from our parents and siblings. This is the largest regret I have today. I suspect that Dads passing will ease with time, but it is my hope that from his passing, that HIS children find their way back to one another and stand in absolute resolve to ensure that his wife, our mother, is looked after and supported in all manner needed. I beleive that this is the one way that we could celebrate his life and honor what i beleive he would have appreciated the aboslute most.