There are some people in life who leave such a big mark on your heart that even when they’re gone, you still feel them everywhere.

Today is my dad’s birthday, and if I’m being honest, writing this through tears feels about right. I miss him. I miss him so much.

When I think about my dad, I think about a man who didn’t say “I love you” very often. He wasn’t big on words like that, at least not until the last couple years of his life. But with him, you just knew. He didn’t have to say it because he showed it. Honestly, I think that matters even more.

He showed love in the way he worried about you. He showed love in the way he made sure everyone was okay. He showed love by working hard every single day to provide for his family. He showed love by being loyal, honest and the kind of person who would help anybody if he could. He was just a good man.

I remember one time I was at Hobby Lobby, just trying to grab a little time for myself. My phone was on silent and I missed calls from my parents. By the time I got out and called him back, he had already called my kids trying to figure out where I was because nobody knew. When I finally talked to him, he said, “You have to let somebody know where you are. We were worried.”

That was my dad.

Not a hundred “I love yous” but a thousand little ways of making sure you knew.

He absolutely adored his grandkids. Watching him with them compared to how he was when my sister and I were growing up was like seeing a softer side of him. They brought something different out in him. A gentleness. A softness. It was beautiful to watch.

He loved my mom deeply, and growing up watching their marriage, I knew that kind of love was what I wanted. It was rare. Real. Steady. Loyal.

He was a hardworking man. He started as a laborer in construction and retired as a foreman. He hated cold weather and always said he wanted to move to Arizona where it was warm all the time. But even with the freezing winters and the hard work, he showed up every single day because that’s who he was.

He was simple, strong, steady and family first.

If I could sit with him today, I would tell him I love you, and I’ve missed you so much. I would tell him I never realized how hard life would be without him. I would tell him he was one of the rare good ones in this world. Loyal, genuine, honest and the kind of man people remember.

I would tell him how many people still say, “Your dad was such a good man.” And they’re right. He was.

I would thank God for making him my dad. For giving me him and my mom to raise me. For teaching me what loyalty looks like, what love looks like and what being a good person looks like.

Life is not the same without him here, and honestly, I don’t think it ever will be.

But I carry him with me every single day. In how I love. In how I show up. In how I fight for my kids. In how I try to be a good person.

A part of him is still here in all of that.

So today, I hope he's celebrating big. I hope he knows how loved he still is. And I hope somehow, he knows how much we all still miss him.

Happy Birthday, Dad.

Forever loved. Forever missed.

— Jenny 🤍