Gone but never to be forgotten

The DadUnit passed away this morning.  After a long fight and battle, he finally finished his list I guess and was ready to move on. I will miss him beyond words. 

There are two main ways I express my feelings, writing and in photos.  I put together this photo montage of Dad through the years.  He loved his family. He loved to travel. And he loved his family - oh wait, I already said that.  Hopefully this video will give you a glimsp into the life of Alfred Jerry Wraspir (1934 - 2012). A son, a dad, a husband, a friend, a brother, a grandfather, a great grandfather and a person who helped shape me to be the woman I am today.

Goodbye Dad. Rest in Peace.

Things about the DadUnit that will make me smile for the rest of my life:
1. Every time I look at a tomato. I'll smile because that man LOVED his tomatoes. The stories I could tell of crates of tomatoes all around the house "ripening".

2.  The stinky Swiss cheese we carried with us around Europe. Each day the cheese lived in a non cooled back seat. Each day we'd stop for lunch. Each day us girl-folk would scrunch our noses up and say no way would we eat that rotten cheese. And each day Dad would slap it on his sandwich and say "nothing's wrong with this."

3. Every time I BBQ.  One of my earliest, and fondest memories, is of dad turning on his grill and slapping on a HUGE tri-tip roast.  He'd patiently let it cook and would deliver to the table one of the best things I've ever tasted.

4. Every Christmas Eve going shopping for the MomUnit's gift. What started out as an "oh God I forgot to buy your mother a gift" trip, ended up just our time. We'd go to lunch, we'd shop for mom and dad would ALWAYS buy me a Christmas gift that was from just him.  I've gotten some great gifts over the years.

5. His love for all things fruit.  The massive amount of fresh fruit we had on one of our trips to Hawaii in which we had to start giving it away to people in the hotel complex cuz we couldn't take it home.

So many more stories.  I could go on for days.  Instead, I'll end here and smile just a little while I grieve a little more.