things I do because of my dad

Today is a weird day. It has been 2 years to the day that my Dad has been gone. Sometimes it feels like more, most of the time less. I always had looked to my dad for advice. Most of it was old school, and I like that.  Taking some of the past and bringing it to the future is really important to me. I feel like I was brought up in a totally different way because of it, having an older parent, especially someone like my Dad had its setbacks, trust me (teenage me would have alot to say right now), but now that I am older I am so much more thankful for it.

Some things I do or don't do because of my dad (some of it mom too, but they were so much a team, its kind of a given on some of these):
1. I do rub meat tenderizer into bug bites.  I even have the original container, with the stuff still in it that he used on us as kids, essentially its salt so it can't go bad!
2. I don't wear or buy anything with a peace sign.  That's really an entirely different post but him being in the military in the 60s and 70s has some to do with it.
3. My radio station is ALWAYS at 93.3 even though I don't think he would be listening to it now as they have changed the line up.  But every once and while they play a tune that reminds me of being in the car with my Dad.
4. I have yet to cut the girls hair.  As silly as it sounds he touched their hair when they were babies and I'm not ready to part with it yet. Silly,  I know.
5. I TRY to always eat the whole apple, like everything but the stem. Waste not, want not?!
6. I respect the elderly. Not so much because they are old, but because they have went through so much in their lives and they deserve respect. When I am old I will not have gone through HALF of what they went through in their lifetime.
7. I love tradition.Traditions are what make memories, and I love memories.
8. I will more than likely embarrass my kids, it keeps them grounded.
9. I have nothing but respect for our military and the flag, and I am patriotic. I have a hard time when people disgrace the flag. It happens EVERYDAY. It happens in this town. If you don't know if you are displaying it properly ask someone, if your flag is tore up turn it in to the boy scouts or your UAW hall, they can take care of it and buy a new one. Don't tie it to stuff, be mindful how you wear it.... SEE! It's a little ridiculous. I have had the honor of taking down a flag in ceremony. It's amazing. It makes you fall in love with how this country came to be. People have died for you whether you agree with it or not. And until you sign that dotted line and make the sacrifice yourself, support them.
10. I love my family. Even though we may not always see eye to eye, and hey sometimes we don't talk, they have made me who I am. Even thought he isn't here he influences me almost everyday, he helps me raise my kids. He obviously did something right.

I wish everyone could have had a Dad like mine.  I wish the most that my girls could know him. He loved them SOOOOO much. He had so much to teach them. So now it's my job to pass down all of his ways and make sure they know what I know. Even if it isn't today or tomorrow. I haven't let my Dad go, I feel like I deal with his passing in small pieces that are easier to digest. I think I wouldn't have been able to go on had it not been for my girls and family.

I love you Dad, and I miss you every single day. I am not ready to let  you go, I like to think of you as here just not here :)