02/20/2025
My dad would be 69 today. He would have laughed at the age.
If you are new here, Faye's Place isn't just about an AirBnB. It's about death and grief and a place to memorialize my parents.
Losing my dad at 13 has still been my biggest struggle. I cry at least once a week and wonder what would have been. To know him as an adult. How he would have loved to be a grandpa. How the trajectory of my life would have been very different and less of a struggle. The struggle turns different when you become a parent, too. You see your late parents' parenting coming to. Memories you forgot about come lurking in. When good things happen, he's still the first person I want to call, even though I haven't had that feeling in so many years. After I met this year, it was the first time I could hear his excited "no way" laugh in my mind.
My dad had cancer when I wrote this. Assuming I didn't add that because cancer seems to not just take hold of the body but almost becomes a part of you. He never wanted to be "the guy with cancer," and even in 5th grade, I didn't want him to feel less than.
Anyway, Happy Birthday to my dad, Eldon. I miss and love you so much, and now you can dance with mom to "Livin' on Love" in the kitchen without your child telling you she has a crush on Alan Jackson. 💖
