The other day I started to play Uno with my daughter. I had also begun warming some pasta for her, when I sat down and casually stated, "It's so weird that Granddad died. Isn't that weird?" I raised my head a bit to connect with her eyes, longing for someone to not necessarily feel my pain, but to really comprehend and acknowledge in that moment how unfathomable it is that my dad is gone. My father, a constant, a fixed variable, a foundation, the most dependable, firmly indep

A gently used Chapstick and nearly empty Tic Tac container, save for 8 candies, climbed the list of my most cherished possessions a year ago, today. These inexpensive, otherwise trivial items became invaluable and irreplaceable relics in the mere amount of time that it takes a dying man to surrender his final breath. The man was my father, and the Tic Tacs and Chapstick were his staples – ever present accessories to his personal brand. Meaning that you could count on him to h