Silly stories and bloody rascals

As I settled on to the train this morning, I heard a furious grumbling that I realized was being addressed toward me. The man sitting next to me was staring at the seat opposite us and pointing at muddy footprints on the seat. "Just look at that! Some bloody rascal has put his feetssss on the seat and dirtied. No shame." I settled my face into what I hope was a good mix of outrage and sympathy for his being annoyed. I didn't want to tell him that all the seats looked much like that, but he warned everyone away from sitting there. They all looked longingly at the empty seat, too proud to sit down after being told about its rascally predecessor who had wrecked it for eternity. 

The whole thing reminded me of my dad who would have laughed uproariously at my silly story of what happened on the way to work. It's been 3 years, but I never stop thinking about things that I could have told him. Something that happened at work, a song we're singing for our concerts, a place I visited, a restaurant I tried or something I wrote. All usually silly stories, but always the ones that would make him break into a crinkly eyed smile and amused chuckling. It's been 3 years since it felt like there's been less to laugh about or feel happy about. But as Shaheen pointed out in a little write up she did on my dad and Thanksgiving, there's much to also be grateful for. We miss our dad very much, and we had to deal almost immediately with our mom's independence, confidence and super activity levels being reduced to a blurry memory. 3 years later we're still trying to figure our way, but the one constant is we do still share a lot of laughter. My mom came over yesterday and it was really nice to see her baking again, a seemingly small thing, but truly encouraging to us. 

The horrible memories of 3 years ago will stay with us for life, but I'm thankful there will always be enough silly stories and bloody rascals to keep us positive along the way and give us something to chuckle about. Miss you Pa...always remembered, forever loved.