This Thing Called Life

     Each time I drive my dads truck, so many memories start coming back to me. This is the truck I curb hopped in the day I got my drivers permit. "Hey There Delilah" by Plain White Ts was on the radio and my dad said that was a sign I would pass and I did. For years I rode in this truck to bass fishing tournaments. We also took this truck to his work to fish on the docks. There were so many trips to the ABC store. My dad called it the "American Boys Club". This is the truck that pulled his landscaping trailer. I would meet him at his customers yards to help and she would be sitting on the side streets. I named her Whitey. When I was younger my dad would ask which truck I wanted to take and I would always choose her. It still seems unreal not to see my dad driving her or hear him pull up to my house and start cutting my grass or start trimming my gardenia and azalea bushes. Learning to live without someone you love is so hard. Not meeting my dad for dinner afte...

     Today as I walked up the driveway to one of my fathers favorite customers to deliver a thank you card, I burst into tears. This was the yard I helped him weed and plant cucumbers and tomato plants. This was the woman he spoke so highly of and brought her sausage biscuits from Hardees. She couldn't have them often because of her gout but once in a while he would hang one on the mailbox outside her front door since she is elderly. We would help her move things and put bird food in her feeders. Sodas were too heavy for her to lift so we would stock her fridge. There are some days that I really can't believe my dad is gone until things happen like this and hits me. It hits me right in the heart. It makes me realize that he is no longer here to share is work day with me or cook me dinner. He won't be here to make crabs this summer or attend any more bass tournaments. He loved fishing so much. I try to pretend like I'm okay but I'm not. I try to be strong but I reall...