Enter Ar in the summer of 2004. She came to my mom on "loan" from my Tia Lupe who had been watching her for a few months until the planning of her daughter's wedding took a toll on her time. She handed A to us until the big day. She was one.
We all fell in love with her. The wedding came and went. Ar stayed. She quickly became a part of our family. We looked forward to her arrival each morning.
My dad was a changed man. He played with her. He hugged her. He teased her. He loved her. And when her little brother arrived two years later, he had enough love to give him as well.
In the mornings when Car got there he would run into my dad's room to say good morning. My dad would still be in bed as Car walked to the edge to babble his greeting. On the day that Car went to see my dad lying in his coffin, he uttered the same thing he had for months one last time. In the days that followed, Car and Car alone would see my dad outside the sliding glass door. Car has no memory of any of this, or my dad for that matter. But the memories of the joy he brought my dad will forever be embedded in my mind.
When those kids stepped through the front door, they walked straight into his heart.
On the first anniversary of his death, I spoke about the comfort I felt knowing how much he would have loved his grand kids. I saw it with my own eyes. Without Ar and Car I would never have known. They are angels. I love them so much. Just like my dad did.
There will never exist a picture of my dad with either of his granddaughters, but I have a pretty good idea of what it would look like if there were:
This was waiting for me the other morning when I logged into Facebook.That's my dad and my goddaughter, Ar. I can't make out the year it was taken ~ looks like '98, but that's when he passed away, and judging by the sandals and sundress Ar is wearing, I would assume it was sometime during summer. He left us on January 13.
I love the look on his face. This could very well be my favorite picture of him. I love it. It's exactly as he looked those last couple of years.
Looking at it made me realize that in the photo album of my kids' lives, there will always be a missing picture. It made my cry for the first time in a while over his death. It made me miss him. At the same time, it made me happy. And it made the realization of that missing picture a little bit easier to bear.
Thank You for sharing, My Ar!
