#dadiversary

"The worst part of holding the memories is not the pain. It is the loneliness of it. Memories need to be shared." -Lois Lowry, The Giver. 

AD shared the above Lois Lowry quote with the family, and invited everyone to share their memories of MRH on the anniversary of his death. When I first started to think about what memory I would share, I had a difficult time thinking of a discrete story. Instead, I was easily able to think of all of the lessons I learned from my Dad and how I learned them. 

It was an exercise that ultimately ended in me remembering a nostalgic timeline of memories, but for the sake of this post, here are a few MRH rules and lessons:

1) If you like a band or musician for 10 or more years, that means they actually make good music. They're not just a one-hit-wonder, thus you can play their music in Dad's red truck.

2) If you're nervous, it's a good thing. It means that you're doing something new, and if you're doing something new it means you're growing as a person.

3) Ikea furniture will only last you through one move, but Mr. Hudon, Woodworker furniture will last a lifetime.

4) The only coffee worth drinking is black coffee.

5) You can do anything, you just need to decide what you want to do and put your mind to it.

6) There's enough time to say, "I love you more."

The tree that never had to fight

For sun and sky and air and light, But stood out in the open plain And always got its share of rain, Never became a forest king But lived and died a scrubby thing.

The man who never had to toil To gain and farm his patch of soil, Who never had to win his share Of sun and sky and light and air, Never became a manly man But lived and died as he began.

Good timber does not grow with ease: The stronger wind, the stronger trees; The further sky, the greater length; The more the storm, the more the strength. By sun and cold, by rain and snow, In trees and men good timbers grow.