Gotta Have My Pops

“Gotta have my pops” is an old slogan from the 80’s from a commercial for Corn Pops cereal, but right now the pops I gotta have isn’t cereal… it’s my actual Pops, my Dad.

Only thing is… I can’t have my Pops.  He passed away last June.  This is my first Father’s Day without him.

If he were still here he’d be acting all grumpy about Father’s Day because he wouldn’t like all the attention and fuss (but it would only be acting because even though it made him a little uncomfortable… he secretly liked all the lovins).  He’d let us kids come over and visit him for a little while and do the Father’s Day thing, and then he’d shoo us away so he could watch TV.  But I wouldn’t buy it and I’d stay, because I’m the youngest and a little pest, and I’m a rebel and don’t obey my parents.  😉

Gosh I miss him.  My world has been so different without my Papa in it.  It’s been a huge adjustment for my whole family, especially for my mom.  But we are managing.  What else can ya do except deal as best as ya can?

On his birthday last December I wrote up a post about my Dad ~ Reflections of my Pops where I shared a bunch of favorite photos and things about him, and for Father’s Day I am copying and pasting the majority of that post onto this one.  So for those of you who have been following my blog for a while and have already seen it, please forgive the repeat…

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Below is one of my all-time favorite photos of my Dad.  It was a beautiful, perfect, summer day spent at my favorite place in Minnesota ~ Lake Superior.  Dad was skipping rocks when my mom snapped this photo of him.  The entire shoreline is littered with them, as you can see.  And that’s my daughter in the background wading in the water.  She’s 20 now so this photo is from quite a while ago, but I still remember the day.  It was a good day.  A happy time.  And my Dad looks handsome.  ♥

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Where as the above photo was of my Dad on a warm summer day…. here is one taken during the glory of winter.  It’s also one of my favorite photos of him.  One thing about living in Minnesnowta is it SNOWS.  Sometimes a lot!  And my Dad always took such good care of clearing his walkways whenever it snowed.  He was actually quite the “ants in his pants” about it!  His hair matches the snow.  ♥   He had such a gorgeous head of hair…~

Omygosh if there is one thing I’ll always remember the most about my Dad… it’s that he LOVED riding bicycle!  He would ride miles and miles a day, all around the city ~  through downtown Minneapolis along Nicollet Avenue.  He was a common fixture around town riding his bike and people even recognized him.  He was a friendly fellow with a bright, wonderful smile.  ♥~

He’s not exactly “smiling” here, but I adore this silly expression on his face!  This picture was taken on one of his birthdays some years ago.  Clearly he is being silly about the new hat and gloves he received.  And see how he’s in his pajamas?  That is another thing about my Dad ~ whenever he was at home and not planning on going out anywhere, he was always in his jammies.  As my Mom and I were going through some of his things a while back, I asked for a couple sets of his jammies that we came across.  I’m wearing them as I write this.  ♥~

Here is another precious photo.  This was taken at my daughter’s graduation in 2010.  My Dad was very involved in my daughter’s life.  He was such a good Papa.  Over the years as she was growing up, he rarely missed a program, concert or recital of hers.  ♥~

I love this one of my adorable parents being cute and cozy on my brother’s couch.  They were married for 52 years.  ♥~

If I had a halfway decent recent photo of my Dad and I together, I would post it next, but I don’t, so this one will have to do.  It’s from another Duluth/Lake Superior trip  The little boy in it with us is my punk nephew.  I could have cropped him out to make it a photo of just me and my Pops, but when I did that and used it as my Facebook profile picture, my nephew cried foul so I left him in this time.  😉~

Thanks for letting me share a bit about my Pops on this Father’s Day.  I love him and miss him more than I can say..

♥ ♥ ♥