Oh Sweet Lorraine

A fairy tale love story set to music. Please watch. You won't be disappointed.
(But do keep tissues handy.)
God bless you, Fred, and your sweet Lorraine.

Dedicated to my very own Fred and Lorraine...

I love and miss you, Mom & Dad...

Love, Donna

Now I need to head over to iTunes to purchase this amazingly beautiful song. Wish me luck as I'm pretty old school with my CD's, so buying music online will be a new experience for me!

To everything there is a season...

... a time for every purpose under Heaven...

It's been two years since he's been gone...

 My dad.. my hero..

... who received the Purple Heart during WWII 

while serving with the Timberwolves, 104th Infantry,
and who was buried with military funeral honors.

The most surreal moment of dad's service was when the bugler went a distance away,

out of sight, to play Taps. I don't think I've ever had so many emotions playing out at one

 time and I don't think I've ever heard another melody so solemn, so profound, so emotional or so moving...

After the service, a gentle August breeze came through the cemetery and these wind chimes, hanging from a nearby tree, softly serenaded us as we left the graveside service.

I've been enjoying my evening walks now that the heat and humidity has disappeared from the northeast...

... and one of my favorite places to unwind and walk is in the cemetery.

Naturally, my dad is never far from my thoughts on these walks. Since I'm writing a short blog post and not a book, I'll just throw out a few words or phrases that are synonymous with my dad.

Patriotic.

Loyal.

Polish Catholic. 

Daily Prayers of Thanks.

Daily Rosary.

Daily Mass.

Great devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and Jesus.

Compassionate.

Gentle.

Generous.

Kind.

Charitable.

Soft spoken.

Never left home without wearing a scapular (or two)...

... and carrying a pocket full of prayer cards in his shirt.

Devoted to Mom (who we lost in 1996)...

The kindest green eyes (so he could see like a cat at night! he'd tell us)...

... hard worker ... entrepreneur ... self-made ... a simple man of modest means ...

The fastest typist I've ever known (on a manual, no less)...

A trucker, who enjoyed nothing more than getting into his Ford pickup truck with his coupons and hitting all the supermarkets for the best deals.

A cat lover...

... a dog lover...

(saying goodbye to his buddy, our Mr. O'Malley, after the vet said no more could be done)

... and an all around animal lover.

 A jokester...

... who loved his family more than words can express...

To quote your favorite term of endearment, Dad...

"I love you very dearly."

You are missed every day.

You are my hero.

How I wish I had told you that, and so much more, every day that you were here.

Always and forever,

your Little Girl, your Donna Doo, your Ducky

COMMENT UPDATE: I have been visiting all of you to thank you for your kind, sweet words about my wonderful dad. Many of you do not have blogs so I hope you see this heartfelt thank you for all of the comments you have left. Thank you from the bottom of my heart... Donna

Did you ever know that you're my hero...

Happy birthday, Dad. You're always in my thoughts and prayers...

I love you very dearly, Donna Doo

A hearty bowl...

I just took possession of this bowl. There are two of them. My sister kept the other.

It's definitely one of my favorite things now. You see, these were my Dad's oversized cereal bowls. Trust me, many times they were filled with anything but cereal (Dad was an ice cream lover, and these bowls held a LOT of ice cream!)

I made oatmeal in mine the other morning. The nights and mornings have been a wee bit nippy lately, so warm oatmeal hits the spot!

I add water to the packet of oatmeal, zap it in the microwave for 60 seconds, and then toss in some chopped walnuts, blueberries (or any kind of berries I have on hand), and add a bit of Almond Milk. It sure hits the spot on a chilly morning. And the bowl, of course, always makes me smile because it makes me think of my dad :)

I'm joining Claudia at Mockingbird Hill Cottage today for A Favorite Thing Saturday. Pop over and visit everyone, and be sure to share your own favorite thing!

Donna

A gift from my father...

Back in the 1960's, my dad started a small trucking company. The file cabinets in his home office are still packed with paperwork from the decades he built, and owned, that business.

It's been just over a year since my dad passed. I think I'm still coming to terms with him being gone because it's taken me this long to start sorting through some of his things. Last week I opened one of the file cabinet drawers and sitting atop a stack of papers was this small oval box wrapped in a rubber band.

You could have knocked me over with a feather when I opened the box and found my dad's gold wedding band! You see, my dad hadn't worn his ring since the 1950's when he witnessed a coworker's wedding ring get caught while jumping down from a truck, resulting in a very bad injury. So finding this treasure was such a gift!

But there was also a mystery. In addition to his gold wedding band, there was an inexpensive, lightweight silver ring inside the box!

Had my dad given this inexpensive ring to my mom before buying her a diamond? I know they had no money whatsoever back in those days, so that certainly seems plausible. Or did my dad try wearing this inexpensive break-away ring after witnessing that workplace accident so long ago? With both mom and dad both gone, there's no way of knowing the sentiment behind this ring, but I know there is some significance for it to have been inside the same little tin box as his wedding ring.

So the silver ring was put back into the little tin box. It will be placed in a prominent spot in my office/studio so I'll never forget the magical moment I found it. And as for my dad's ring, I'm now wearing that next to my ring finger.

I had been wearing my mom's rings as well, but a jeweler confirmed what I suspected, that the diamond is very loose, so I won't be wearing it again until I have some extra money to get the ring/prongs repaired.

My dad's ring is inscribed with his and my mom's initials, the date they got married, and the word Love...

I still can't get over how easy it was to find something I wasn't even looking for... Truly a gift from my father.

I treasure both my mom's and dad's rings and I'm so happy to be able to share them with you today! They are most certainly a favorite thing!

Thank you, Claudia, for hosting A Favorite Thing Saturday" at Mockingbird Hill Cottage! Be sure to pop over and visit Claudia's blog and share your own favorite thing in her first party! "Favorite Thing Saturday" will be a weekly event and she will have the party link up post up and running this evening around 8 PM EST.

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

Donna