This Is the speech I am giving for my dad at his funeral service.
Talkative, Kind, Caring, these some of the words I would use to describe my dad, and a lot of what I am today is a because of him.
Growing up, my dad and I shared a lot of random phrases and lingo. Whether it was “party time” whenever he wanted to start off celebrating something, “you don’t know the facts” when I didn’t do something the correct way, my dad had a lot of sayings he loved to use. One of his favorite phrases came during my 3rd grade, my dad was one of a few parents observing our class. Whenever the teacher asked a question, there was a kid in the back holding onto his seat that would be waving his hand around saying “I know, I know, I know”. The teacher ended up calling on that kid more often than not. My dad used that phrase as a way to teach me to speak up to make sure that if I needed to say something, I should just voice it outloud and not hold it in. Eventually, he didn’t need to use that phrase to teach me anymore, and we ended up using it as a fun way to tell each other when we knew something.
My dad always tried to help and show me things. He helped me learn how to buy a house, do my taxes, and he had been helping me a little bit with my wedding planning.
I am still pretty sad, because I wish he could have made it to my wedding, and I wish he could have celebrate my next birthday as he had told me this year. But as my friend reminded me, you will never stop wishing and realize that he lived a full blessed life.
For the past year and a half, I have had the chance to take care of my dad every day. I did as much as I could to help him, and when he was not physically able to lift up, I got to help lift the rest of the way and carry him up. I also was able to carry him to church, to the restaurants, to the restroom, everywhere. My dad always would tell me that he felt really bad being such a big burden on me. However, I told him that he was not a burden, and that I love him, and I would take care of everything, and then I would give him a kiss on the cheek as I laid him to sleep.
I would like to end with one final story. My dad loved to collect coins, and whenever there was a milestone in my life like high school or college graduation, he would buy me a coin to celebrate it. So today, I wanted to do to the same thing for him. So I bought a 2016 Commerative Silver Coin to celebrate my dad graduating this life, and loving God all the way to the end. I will miss him on earth, but I know he is enjoying paradise with God in heaven right now. And one day I will get to see him again, and we will be able to have a “party time” again.
Thank You
