april 2, the family holiday

Each spring my father's side of family usually gets together in Columbia, Kentucky to eat broccoli casserole and birthday cake. We picked early April for this annual gathering because my grandfather's birthday was April 2. This is our first April 2nd without him. And my mind has been on him a lot today, the day that would have been his 97th birthday.I'm not sure I have yet found the means to put into words what its like to be a family that has lost its patriarch. But I feel it a lot today. If there are birthdays in Heaven I know Granddaddy is celebrating his in the Place he wanted to be for so many years. And I hope Jesus cuts him a BIG piece of (non-chocolate) cake. With a generous scoop of ice cream.