My Dad

On the morning of June 14, 2013 I received a horrible call. My step mother called to tell me that she had returned home from the store and found my Father on the floor, dead. Dad had a long history of illness, ranging from hypertension to diabetes and congestive heart failure. Over the last couple weeks he had spoken of and to all that saw him, appeared to be doing very well. Thankfully and regretfully, he followed in the footsteps of most of his male relatives and was hit with a swift and sudden death due to a coronary. No lingering death process for the Carder men.
 I will miss my Father greatly but know that his many years of suffering and frustration are over. I will see him every day though, every time I look in the mirror. He and I have always had an uncanny resemblance. During the few days of the funeral, visitation and other affairs that take place after a death, I saw many people look at me and then do a double take. As his first child and first son, things were not always smooth between us. I was a just like him, hard headed and strong willed and he was a young man new to the act of being a father. As we both grew, we developed a strong relationship. A man with an outgoing nature, he never knew a stranger. I swear, he could sell ice to an Eskimo and charm the tits off a witch. He loved cars the way I love guns, at one time he had over 50 vehicles in the pasture, everyone of them to be "fixed up and sold". Pop, I will miss you and look forward to seeing you later.