October...rough month

This has been a rough month. Chewy's foot had to go into a boot and then a cast, he got laid off (found a job quickly, which will be starting next week, which can be nerve wracking).  Halloween and the passage of time and the kids are not really kids anymore and how do you celebrate one of our families favorite holidays when it's not the same AND you can't go to a lot of places because one of your family is in a foot cast?

Oh.  And this month is my Dad's Birthday month.  In fact, tomorrow is my Dad's birthday...and he is not here.  And it sucks. Like a LOT.  

So, not sure when this started..maybe when I went away to college...no, it must have been when I moved to New England...my Dad would call on my Birthday and Sing me the Birthday song.  For my Dad, being a musical person, his pitch was perfect...but my Dad was also shy about showing emotions and his feelings...so for him to bare himself so openly on the phone...it was priceless.  No other gift was necessary...because I could always count on him and his singing on the phone.  After a while, I started doing it back to him...calling him on his birthday and singing the Happy Birthday song to him.

One more thing that will be different this year.  The start of the holiday season, the first without my Dad...starts tomorrow.

We have a tradition that we light memorial candles during the holidays, usually Christmas Eve.  One more candle will be lit this year.