The 3 year anniversary of my father’s death is this year (2014) and it’s hard to believe that he has been gone this long. I often wonder if he’d be proud of me for putting myself out there like this and publishing this book. The answer is usually yes, but it’s certainly nerve wracking none the less.

So many huge life events have come and gone without him here, which has certainly been one of the hardest parts. The birth of my nephew, career changes, my engagement to my fiancé, and all of the little things that make me want to pick up the phone and call him.

A year ago, had I told you all of this I would have likely fallen into a violent burst of tears, which hurt physically to shed. But as I write this, I have truly come out the other side. I didn’t know if it could really happen, or if I would end up exactly as this story began: the broken daughter of a father who’d passed. But it did, and there are many things that contributed to that.

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