Christmas is almost here!

There is only days before the kids wake us up at some unnatural hour of the morning to open Christmas presents. This ritual has been one that has been past down for generations (I assume my Dad and Mom had the same enthusiasm as I did and what my kids have). One tradition that I kept that my dad started was..."you kids can open your Christmas Stockings when you get up..but...you have to wait until we get up to open the presents." Now I understand why he did this....sleep.

My Birthday

44 years ago my Dad was celebrating that he has a boy, Me. He was so proud and excited because He was such a traditional man. Having a son was a really big deal...he wanted to pass the family name on through his oldest boy. One promise I gave dad was to call his friend, Denis on my birthday, because that is what he did every November 4th because of an incident that Denis was involved with because of my birth. I have kept that promise so far.

Happy birthday Dad!

Every year on June 12th a sign with big red "July 12th" would be tacked up on the living room beam. This was so that no one would miss my Dad's Birthday. He would make sure that it was there for at least a month and some times longer. He would wake up at the crack of dawn and do what ever he wanted to do...It could be fishing going a walk in the woods. At 12:01 midnight he would sit in his LazyBoy chair and say "I can't believe that my birthday is over...yea, my Dad cherished this special day and I encourage that everyone should have the same attitude on their birthday. Well, HAPPY BIRTDAY, DAD! Love ya!

Writing for Life

The time has come for me to write. I have started this blog to honor my father, write out my feelings and experience with dealing with the loss. I have also started this to write. It is opened to the public. So, anyone who stumbles across this can read it and make comments if they like.
My father had his opinions of what to do and he may have tried to encourage me to do "what is right" (according to him in a lot of cases) He would give his two cents than leave it up to me to make the decision. He would encourage this writing but he would also say "don't give up your Day job". Well, Dad, I have not "giving up my day job" but I am working towards creating a new opportunity for myself and my family...by writing. Perhaps one day with hard work and luck You all will be reading something from Shawn O'Neil.

Messages

Once in a while I receive what I call "messages". They are usually a one sentence statement. I could rationalize it as my subconsciousness coming to the front or I could call it a message from God. This is something I always debated with myself...is it really God or is it just me thinking about an issue so much that my brain still works on it subconsciously and finally puff a one sentence pops into my head. Regardless of what it is...they are usually profound and they some times (believe it or not) are prophetic. I would prefer it to be the later, though. Well this blog has been dedicated to my dad so most of the themes that I write usually involve him. One of the "messages" I received was "My dad gave me something" I mention this to my wife and her immediately responded was..."it was Finn" You see Finn was born after my dad died and he always wanted me to have a boy (I may have mentioned this in a previous post). We were giving it one more try and I indicated that this would be the last child no matter what sex the baby was. I even got "the operation" before I even knew what we were going to have. Finn was born and he does so many little traits that my dad use to do. My Dad would had been very proud of Finn (although he would be proud of all his grand kids) but Finn in my father's eyes is the heir to the O'Neil Throne.

Spring is within smell

Yes, If you walk out side and sniff...you can smell dirt, fresh air, a certain texture in the air that, well, smells like spring. It isn't quit here but it looms like hope of better days. Spring is usually a fresh start. That is what awaits me...a fresh start...My job will be changing. I will be in the same organization but will have a different role. I'm neither happy nor sad about it. I just need to take it as it comes. I know my dad would have had words of wisdom like this or he would have said "how can they (meaning my work) do that to you without consulting you first". After thinking about it he would have both. Oh, well at least I have a job.