On the eve of your 72nd birthday I peep at you from the corner of my right eye as you twiddle your thumbs from your wheelchair, your new best bud. I’ve laughed at you today, laughed with you today and been scared out of my ever-loving mind as I walked into your current home away from home to the repeated phrases, “Oh my goodness! Your daddy walked out here by himself without his walker.” I panicked on the inside, being sure not  show it on the outside as I entered in your room to find you smiling and playing with your food.

Boy-oh-boy! This year has been a doozy, Daddy. Gone are the days of you taking me as a toddler to the bar with you, perching me on the counter as you sipped your favorite elixir. (Don’t you dare judge. This was the 70s where life was easy-breezy…LOL!) Passed are the days where you called me by my nickname of “Bird” because I didn’t have hair and had legs as skinny as a bird. (Can I find my skinny legs again???) Long ago are the days where we went toe-to-toe about my curfew, my “boo” of choice, my smart mouth and your stubbornness which someone found its way to me. (I’m so glad I came to my senses with the help of neighborhood trees and your “discipline”…LOL!) Far seems the day, of less than a year ago when you helped carry and put up a Christmas tree wider and much taller than your 6ft 3inch+ frame.

Many things have changed. But what hasn’t changed is your awe-inspiring statue and spirit. In all my life I’ve never seen you weak, even now, as I type with two hands, continuing to keep an eye on you as if you’re a newborn, but super respectful of the fact that you are a good and grown man.  Even in your sickness you are
“that dude”. You’ve always been the strongest, smartest, kindest, flyest, funniest, most family-oriented, hardest working, most fiscally sound, richest (yep, I said richest), most generous, most knowledgeable, historically astute man I’ve known. And now, as sickness tries with immenent failure to dull your shine just a teeny tiny bit, I’m grateful that NOTHING, not even illness can change the fact that you are STILL the strongest, smartest, kindest, flyest, funniest, most family-oriented, hardest working, most fiscally sound, richest (yep, I said richest), most generous, most knowledgeable, and historically astute man I know.

I made a combined photo of us from the past and present. What’s changed? Not much at all. You’re still “that dude”. For all of my life, like the picture on the left you’ve had my back. From hence forth, like the picture on the right, I’ll have yours.

Signed,

Bird AKA @AngelaMMoore316