Realizing

I just realized that I didn't post about Wayne yesterday. My step-dad, who raised me since I was about four (along with my Mom, of course), died 13 years ago yesterday.

Wayne gave me a necklace the Christmas before he died. It is a gold heart with small rubies and diamonds (rubies are my birthstone). He died of cancer, and was very sick before he died, and was bed ridden most days. But one day in December, he was feeling well enough to get up and out, so he asked my Mom and my brother (the one from that entry, back when he was sober more often and still nice to be around) to take him to the jewelry store. So they loaded him, his wheel chair and his oxygen into the car and they drove him to the store. He got out of the car and into the wheel chair, and stayed upright in it long enough to go in and pick that necklace out before he had to go back to the car where he could lay down in the seat. That necklace is one of my most prized possessions, and I've worn it almost daily since that Christmas when I received it, but I haven't been lately because the chain broke and I haven't been able to afford to replace it. I kept reaching for it all day yesterday, though.

I love you Wayne, and I miss you every day.