I needed more time to conjure your memory
since you’ve been gone 30 years now. 
We teased how you pronounced certainly.

Daddy’s girl was spoiled by the purple 
swirling dress sprinkled with diamond raindrops 
and umbrellas that mama said cost too much
but you didn’t care for my 6 th.

Thanks to you we always had a family dog.
Fritz was the schnauzer rescued from
the crowded pet shop after Christmas 
when no one claimed him. You said
he was mine.

Library visits every two weeks
were a treat with ice cream
after. Both of us with a bedside stack.

Never treated us girls different towards
career choice, you tried to make me
an engineer like you but math was
my downfall. We argued over liberal
arts and as a joke Rick and Dave
scattered some of your ashes at the
College of Liberal Arts  during 
halftime at your beloved Penn State
alma mater football game and laid
the rest at the College of Engineering.

I was the middle of five kids but you
always found 1:1 time. I cherish that
time but also enjoyed big family 
get togethers that followed us into 
adulthood with the grandkids.

You had a vision to bring our
scattered  family of four states together 
with the timeshares in Gatlinburg
back in ’85.

Since Mom passed in 2003, I have
kept that dream alive by paying 
the maintenance fees and getting 
my family there about every 
other year.

Your legacy lives on…