SAD, sad, day

Today it's been 17 yrs. since my dad passed away. I miss my dad every single day. Every day. He was such a good man, so interesting, full of life, fun, and taught me to never be judgemental of others. He always loved to have people over, and sit up and talk late into the night. He'd bring out all the different liquors from my mom and dads travels, and put them on our dining room table, and have a different story to tell about where they got them. Always was fun, and laughter. Alot. I have such great memories of him and our family. Every Sunday morning we would all get up and my mom and dad would make a big breakfast; eggs, bacon, pancakes, waffles, crepes,...whatever it was that morning,...we had dinner together every night,.....and he loved family get-togethers,...LOVED them. When he finally got to retire and move to The Keys, we would ride our bikes around after dinner and look at all the homes in the neighborhood. Silly fun things like that stick-out in my mind. Teaching me how to ride a bike when I was little, floating in our pool in the backyard every summer,.......laying in bed together telling me stories when I was little and scared to sleep alone, loving our german shepards Rexy 1 (and Rexy 2),,...loving sweets,-especially chocolate!,....listening to his favorite albums,....so many great, great memories. I am SO LUCKY to have had a dad like that in my life. Now-a-days kids have no idea about things like that, and a relationship like that. They don't even have fathers like that in their lives,....scary, I can't imagine. I could not imagine my life growing-up without my father there like he was. I mean, my mom is my best friend,...don't get me wrong,...I have a WONDERFUL mom, and she misses' my father like crazy,....so don't think my mom wasn't in the picture too. I still have my mom here, but obviously not my dad. My sisters and I would all snuggle up to my dad on the couch and put our (cold) feet under him, and he would warm them up. We would giggle, and laugh, and he loved it. He always had good advice for my brothers,...and all our friends growing-up would always be welcome. Always. Just home-y and happy. I miss him,....and the hole he left will never be filled. Just sad today, that's all.