Given everything that’s happened, it didn’t seem right not to acknowledge the fact that I’ll be missing dad on Father’s Day this weekend. Granted, this will be my 2nd one without him. However, that doesn’t mean that the pain has gone away.

Missing Dad on Father’s Day

After a long, hard battle with several health issues, my dad passed away in December of 2012. Ever since then, I’ve felt lost in so many ways. He was the person who was most like me. We had the same sense of humor and we could discuss anything. He was always there to make a bad day brighter with his jokes and an understanding hug. Overall, we aren’t a huggy family. However, nothing has (or probably ever will) been as comforting to me as a hug from my dad. He was a naturally big man with an even bigger heart. So, a hug from him was an all-encompassing experience.

I am missing dad on Father’s Day this year as I wrap-up my first year of teaching because I know he would have enjoyed hearing about my experiences with these kids. It’s also very ironic that my first teaching job was in math (considering I don’t have a math endorsement). You see, I was placed into an advanced math class in 7th grade late (by about 6 weeks). So, dad had to help me catch up by covering the material with me. It was an interesting adventure, for sure. At one point, dad said that he hoped that I had to teach a kid math and witness the look of pure confusion on their face after I worked so hard to cover the problem and broke it down step by step. I laughed and said that it wouldn’t happen because I wasn’t going to have kids. Then, after he died, I got this job and I had to teach 92 kids math. Haha!

I am missing dad on Father’s Day because he’s not here to guide me in life. The next several months are once again up in the air (more to come on that in a later post). So, I find myself wanting to know what he would say to do. I’ve also craved his sense of humor when dealing with stuff at work. I feel like losing my dad removed a piece of my heart that can never be filled again. I’ve had to re-construct my way of life because I can’t run to him for wisdom and advice. It’s not been easy but I’m grateful to have had his presence in my life for those brilliant 23 years.

I’m missing dad on Father’s Day because he was the best dad I could ever ask for and I loved him so.

It’s hard to believe that my dad has been gone for six months now. I think about him everyday. I wrote a couple of weeks back that grieving the loss of my father is still hard and that I was dreading my first Father’s Day without dad. Tomorrow is finally the big day and I’m still dreading it.

Father’s Day without Dad

I’ve also mentioned in the past that I’ve found it very hard to find any motivation to do anything lately. You can see my lack of motivation to post by seeing the timestamp on this post. It’s after 2 pm on a Saturday and here I sit writing this post. I always have my posts ready to go for the weekend by Thursday or Friday at the latest. However, I got a post done for Friday on Thursday and then quit. It’s so easy to try and find something on social media to distract me that I haven’t done a whole lot of blogging at any one time here lately. I think that’s because I’m literally trying to distract myself from missing my dad. I’ve been told that the first year without a loved one is the hardest. So, I’m hoping that the following father’s day without dad get easier.

I’ve been dreading this weekend for a month now. Today hasn’t been as hard as I anticipated, but it’s still early yet. I’m hoping I don’t break down soon. Tomorrow, I don’t plan to go out and about. I hope that by being with loved ones, I can cope with the loss on my own. It doesn’t mean that I won’t miss dad or it won’t be hard. I just don’t think I could handle going out and seeing everyone else celebrating the day with their dad.

So, if you’ve lost your dad, how do you handle father’s day without dad? Do you ignore the day or do you do something in remembrance of him?