Good Morning Lovelies,

What can I tell you about my dad? Well, I can honestly and openly say that the man was my hero. When I was little, I would sit on his lap and tell him that no man would ever replace him. And to this day, no man ever has. 

Whilst he had his faults, including being able to go silent for days in a mood, he never once made me feel small or to blame. He would sit and listen, often inviting us all to sit with him at the dinner table to talk about anything and everything. He loved to live a quiet life and together we were an odd but incredible close pair. 

Along with my mum, we nicknamed each other the three musketeers. My dad would often tell me and my mum that he knew that when he was gone we would be okay because we had each other. I can recall so many times him telling my mum that I was going to be the only one that she could rely on and it is a fact that has sadly become true. 

When my dad found out my mum was pregnant, he didn’t really know how to feel. He was scared about being a dad at 50. Yet, when I came along, he told me he instantly fell in love, calling me his princess from then until the very end. My mum says that she has never seen someone so happy and proud as he was ringing his family back in Italian on that day. 

The pride he must have felt is the pride I felt and feel now and forever always about having him as my dad. Today would have been his 81st birthday and whilst I wish he was with us to celebrate, probably with an egg custard tart, a packet of cigarettes and some mint imperials, I also know that he is with me every single day. As he was when he was alive. 

We never spent a day apart, unless he went to Italy without us or when I was in hospital. We did everything for each other and when my mum was caring for my grandad, I was caring for my dad. Having found him both times when he had his strokes, I nursed him back to the best he could be and made sure that he never went without his morning coffee and custard cream biscuits. 

When we would go on drives together, he would always put on songs that we could sing along too, trying to teach me Italian at times with classic songs that he had brought back with him. He could fix anything electrical, often driving my mum crazy with the mess in his shed. Though, we both now say that we would do anything to get that mess back. 

Before and since his passing, I often get told that I look and do things a lot like him and I love it. I love that his blood runs through my veins (O- buddies!) and that I am doing exactly as he asked of me. I feel so thankful that our last words to each other were, “I love you,” which were said with every ounce of truth. 

On my dad’s birthday, I no longer want to celebrate it in mourning but in celebration. He would often want to do something and there were many times that I would throw him a surprise party or dinner to make sure he did. At the last one I hosted, he came up to me and stated that I had made his entire life by gathering everyone together and I will never forget the happiness in his eyes. It is the happiness that I know I would be seeing in them today if he was here to mark the occasion with my mum and I. 

It is the happiness that I will try to go about today with, as I head to his grave to give him a bit of a birthday glow. Something I know he will show me that he approves of if the sun shines, even for a little bit, today! 

My dad. My Pops. My Papa T. I hope that wherever you are that you know that I love you so much! I always will and always have! I will forever be your princess and on your birthday, I hope that you can see how much I am doing to make you proud! This year, I am going to make sure that mum starts living, having fun and doing what you and her always dreamed of! That is my big birthday present to you! That and a whole lot of eternal love! Buon compleanno papa!

Joey X