I look back and I have over 30 drafts over the last year for my next blog post below this and I am not going to use one of the ideas from them, just going to write…
So lately, Charlie you have been smacking me in the face often and I am grateful for it! You are always on my mind but lately you are front and center, and I am embracing it all because it brings you back to me just like it was yesterday!
Your Aunt and Uncle created a new event in your honor that was a truly great night for your mom and I, we both got a great kick out of it with all our friends and families and my ole gambling skills were on point!
We went to a 1st birthday party directly across the street from where you were born, another great event and the 1st time we were back by the hospital. It was painful but great because my favorite memory of you was as we were leaving that hospital and you opened your eyes wide open and just stared at your mom, these are good memories now, still painful but good!
Then your brother scored two TD’s in flag football and he was glowing, so happy and amazed at what he had accomplished I think he shocked himself. I could feel you there with us as I always do.
Your mom and I have had so many good times and down times the last 4 years sometimes it is hard to find center but we always do, through the highs and the lows we are your parents, and Erin and Keegans as well.
We were blessed with 3 great children, Erin and Keegan are always driving us crazy in the best way possible and Charlie you never leave my mind. We are so proud of them and everything you have taught us. As parenting is a full time job so is work!
Ha, ya work, I think that is why are you are always front and center lately. Right now the whole world is going mad over this coronavirus, maybe they have gone a little too far with some of their purchases of our disinfectants and sanitizers, but this isn’t about that, its about how I can’t get away from my phone or computer without hearing or seeing that dreaded word V-I-R-U-S! Even on some of our products the kill claim with the specific virus that you got is right there on the label, I mean come on, why couldn’t however you caught that nasty bug been treated with a product that would have killed that virus before it got to you, however it did.
3 years ago I probably would not have been able to hold a conversation on these products at the levels I am today with out melting down…now I am reminded why we are selling these products that can help prevent this coronavirus from spreading. As people call inquiring about our products and if we have the right products, I am glad I can help because hopefully we are preventing someone, some family, some community from catching a bug.
This is not a plug for my job, this is about preventing people from catching a bug. Coming from a family that has felt the devastation of losing a loved one, we never want to see this happen to anyone so all 3 of you that read this article take precaution but don’t go nutso.
So I am just a dad, working crazy hours right now, but having you with me at work every day right now is nice. I may cry on an airplane while listening to Bocelli or be belting out Amazing Grace by Susan Boyle while travelling for a sales call, but 4 years later they are happy tears always, always thinking fondly of you and who you would be today!
The first time I remember your mom and I being happy right after was a trip to Destin with the Helmers and watching Keegan run around the condo screaming U-S-A-U-S-A as Michael Phelps went for Gold again!
Well in a couple weeks we are going back to Destin and this summer the Olympics are back (virus’s pending) and I can’t help but think how much our family has been through over these 4 years, and how hard we have all worked to get here. From Erin and Keegan, to you and your mom, we have all been knocked down but gotten back up again (Chumbawamaba always a close second in my brain behind Charlie :)) We are all happy as I hope you are, we are going to enjoy this trip and all the adventures in the years ahead, and I will do my small part to help prevent the spread of this virus in your honor, every time I talk about it I will be thinking about you.
And this is a plug, if somehow you can send four to six thousand barrel of monkeys my way we are going to try and break the Guinness Book of World Records for the longest chain of monkeys linked together at your lantern walk this year! I love you Charlie boy and thank you and siblings for all the adventures so far and I look forward to all of what is to come.
Dad
