I don’t know why, but I felt compelled to post this today. Possibly because of what I shared in a comment yesterday about the picture in my sidebar I’ve entitled, Wheel of Fortune. My grandpa died just 2 weeks before he turned eighty-nine in October 2006. His birthday preceded mine by only six days, so when I was a child we often celebrated them together. Oddly, my daughter was born six days before my dad’s birthday, just as I was born six days before my maternal grandfather’s birthday. It’s kind of a peculiar fact, but nevertheless, I find it interesting and for whatever reason, I consider it special.

My grandpa’s death had a huge impact on me, and on the day he would have turned eighty-nine, just two weeks following his funeral, I felt this urge to grab a pen and paper. I didn’t really think–I just wrote what came to me and this is what resulted. I had never written poetry, so it falls quite short of marvelous…but I can assure it was heartfelt.

 “Happy Birthday In Heaven”

If you had any faults
you kept them all from me.
Humor, love and modesty
were all that I could see.

I’m so sad to have lost you
as all who knew you are.
I know it’s only Heaven
but it seems so very far.

I doubt that you can hear us,
those of us still here on Earth-
but a happy birthday to you
on the anniversary of your birth.

This day is still a special one
for it’s when your life began.
You were a hero, husband, father and grandpa-
one truly terrific man.

You meant the world to your wife and kids
and to your grandchildren–yes, all seven.
and so it’s with a heavy heart
I wish you a happy birthday in Heaven.