Facebook reminded me this morning that it is Dad’s birthday. As if I could forget. I woke up, ready to FaceTime him and sing a very poor rendition of The Beatles’ Birthday song, as I’ve done every year for the past, oh, who knows? how many years. And have him listen patiently and laugh at me.

I cried a few (okay, a lot of) tears, wishing that we had just one more celebration together. One more chance to tell him how much I loved him and how grateful I am that he’s my Dad. But I guess that’s how every milestone will be from here on out. Wishing that Dad were still here, wishing I could tell him one more thing.

This was the last picture we took together. It was on January 21^st of this year and it was our “Hooray! We’re being discharged from the hospital for the last time!” selfie. Except that it wasn’t. We were in the hospital many more times after that. And we always thought there would be more opportunities to take pictures.