~ Father's Day 2020 ~

This years Father's Day celebrations was very low key.  No big family gathering with a buffet of yummy home cooked foods.  It was just me and dad doing our best to social distance.  Since dad is the oldest in the family he gets to call the shots.  As we all know the older you are the more likely you are to catch this crazy bug that has had us all hunkering down.  He felt it would best to stay as far away from the 40 and under family members.   We normally have the family gatherings at dads  house because he has a kitchen big enough to hold all of us.  Even without the virus issue right now it would not have been a good time for a family gathering.  He's having new garage/workshop built.  And when the contractors are ready to work you let them work.    

The new garage will be a place where he can restore his old truck that he has had since I was about 9 or 10 and my brothers old car.  The plan for this garage started about 15 years ago.  Seems like a long time to wait for a garage doesn't it?  But every time he would start the ball rolling on the construction something would pop up and delay the start of construction.  So finally his dream garage is being built.

I forgot to take pictures of his old truck and car that will be the first to be restored inside this garage.  So I dug through my old pictures and found a picture from Easter 2019.  As you can see dad loves cars.  He can't stop playing with my nephew's Vet long enough to take the picture.   My nephew loves car's as much if not more than my dad.   

I stole this picture from my nephew's Facebook page.  This is where he works.  The boy has been working on cars since he was just a little kid.  It's a family thing.  My brother also restored old cars.  He had so many cars in his lifetime we couldn't count them all.  He had at least 2 new to him cars a year from the time he was 16 yrs old.  

The garage was originally a retirement plan for my dad and brother.  Sadly my brother was killed in a car accident in 2007 four months after this picture was taken.  It was devastating to the entire family and community.  The funeral director said it was the largest funeral he had every had.  My brother was very well known and loved by so many in our community.

   

All in all yesterday was a good day.  I made dad some homemade low carb, no sugar vanilla ice cream.  We spent the afternoon talking and telling stories of the good ole days.  Then we started planning for a family cookout in July, that is if the bug situation keeps improving.  By early evening I was back home and ready to head into the Studio for some much needed quilting time.  But first I needed to check emails and social media.  My niece posted this picture on her Instagram.  It's my brother his wife and my niece when she was a few weeks old.  The caption stated how much she missed her dad.  I lost it, yes I cried like a baby.  I'm not sure why.  He's been gone for 13 years but it felt like just yesterday.  Maybe it's the menopause hormones. We won't even start that discussion...UGG.

Then a crazier thing happened.  Here is the second picture in her post.  Her and her step dad.  He's a great guy and treats my niece and nephew like his own children.  The little signs  gave me a chuckle as I cried.  Good grief!  What an emotional mess.  I really need some quilting time therapy.