HBD, Dad.

My dad would have entered his sixties today.

Honest question here: What are you really supposed to do to celebrate the birthday of someone you love who has passed away? I ask because I'm honestly curious what other people think about it as well as how others spend those days.

If I were the dead one, I am sure I'd want the people who love and miss me to do something that makes them happy. And also something that makes them think of me. Something that would make other people happy.

This year I thought about it and figured 60 is a pretty monumental birthday. I wanted to do something for my dad's birthday that would honor him & his life... things he would maybe be doing if he were still alive today - mostly things that would bring other people joy because that's what he would be doing if he were still alive.

So I'm actively putting together a list of 60+ things to do for my dad's 60th birthday. Things that will make me happy. Ways to remember my dad... to honor him... to make it feel like there are little pieces of him still on earth that he left behind. Ways to make Grampa Scott more real for my kids. Little things, big things... things me and Dad did together and some of the things we didn't have time to do. It's a way to take one of those BIG "I miss you" moments and make it something happy and beautiful.

Here are some of the things on the list so far:

1. Donate blood every 8-10 weeks. I'm really NOT excited about this one. I have terrible veins and as a result really hate needles and giving blood or anything dealing with needles... but Dad was big on donating so I'm gonna give it a go.
2. Take the kids to Dairy Queen, Cici's Pizza, Backyard Burgers... the places he used to work at and where I have memories of going to see him!
3. Take the kids to a hockey game. My dad loved hockey and liked to go to games... he also loved to support local sports. I think he would have really loved having an NBA team in Memphis!!!
4. Take the kids to a redbirds game. He loved baseball - especially the Cubs!

Once I get the list together I'm sure I'll post it in it's entirety... but those are some examples for now. If you have some ideas for the list, feel free to share because I'd love to hear them.

Happy birthday, Dad. I love you.

Tuesday's Topics: Eight Goals.

08.  Get to the gym at LEAST every other day.  I just {finally} committed to the gym and I absolutely NEED and want to use it as much as is realistically possible.  I am just absolutely saddened when I look at myself in the mirror and to be honest, I don't even recognize myself in pictures.  I completed day one of c25k yesterday at the gym and it is MUCH harder than I remember.  But I did it.  And I hope to keep at it for the remainder of the program... even if I need to repeat every week twice - I am going to finish!

07.  Cut pop out of my diet.  I don't want to buy ANY more of that crap because I will drink it if it is in the house.  This includes picking up $1 Cokes at McDonalds.  It's gotta stop.  I got to the point where I didn't even drink pop very often and then it picked up to drinking one can a day and now sometimes I'll drink two a day!!!  I just don't want to ruin my teeth and I definitely don't want to pack on empty calories!  So I'm setting a goal to start cutting it out this month because we should run out of Coke & Dr Pepper from our stash here soon-ish.  And thank God, Tony is on board.  So Mom, if you're reading this - you should totally try to slowly cut Coke out of your diet this month too!  (We can do it!!)

06.  Deep clean the house - starting with OUR bedroom.  We are not staying in this temporary (rental) home forever and no matter where we end up choosing to move, it's important to purge a lot of our unused belongings!  I also would love to go to bed each night in a non-chaotic room.  If we start with our room hopefully we will be able to continue into each room until the whole house is done.

05.  Donate blood!  As some of you may already know, one of the things I am really looking forward to crossing off our summer bucket list is donating blood with Tony for the first time.  I am so anxious to (try) to donate and really, really want to hit that goal this month!  Even if I have to literally drag Tony to get it done, I totally will...

04.  Get back into reading books regularly.  I was really on a roll there for a while and was reading one book after the other but then I just hit a wall.  I wanted to keep reading the Hunger Games over and over and over again because they were seriously THAT good.  And then the 3rd time reading the books (in a row, mind you...) I stopped partway through the first one.  I have a whole list of wonderful books I'd like to read but I still wouldn't mind reading this series one more time.  Either way, I'd just like to start reading again.

03.  STOP EATING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT.  I am such a night owl and I love it - I honestly do.  I love my quiet alone time.  It is peaceful and therapeutic.  One awful thing about it is snacking throughout the night.  I am going to put an end to this.

02.  Get more totes for Presley's clothes.  Whether they are clothes she's grown out of or clothes she doesn't fit into yet, we've run out of space to store the clothes Presley isn't currently wearing.  I'd like to get them out of the way this month.  (Aren't we fortunate to have the problem of having too many clothes for her?  Hand-me-downs have just saved our bank account and have really & truly blessed our lives so much.)

01.  Attend church regularly.  I miss being in mass and more specifically I really miss Christ the King and our Saturday nights at church!  It seems like there is always SOMETHING getting in the way of attending each week (late nap, bad mood baby, etc.) but I just feel like I'm to the point where none of those excuses matter... I'm ready to attend church even if my child squirms and cries and all of that mess.  How will she ever get used to it if we never go?  Plus, I'm just looking for that peace in my life that I can get no where else than from above.

What are eight goals you've set yourself for the month of June?