There are many memories in your life that you never forget.
For me one of my best Happy Tears memories was when I told my Dad that we were having a baby. You see, my Dad was never supposed to be here for this. When I was high school, my Dad was diagnosed with ALS, better known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. He was given 2 years to live. He hung on 18.
As the years went on and on, we began to celebrate the many many milestones of life that he was privileged enough to attend. From High School graduation, College Graduation, an engagement, then a wedding. Everyone of those events were met with Kleenex and lots of happy tears.
Then we had the 5 years of waiting.
During that time my Dad moved to Florida and we had our daily chats and checking in with the question of when will there be a baby? We waited and waited – and then on our 5 year wedding anniversary trip, it happened.
I remember the day we found out. I couldn’t stop crying. I was so excited to make that phone call. We had waited 17 years with him being sick to give him one more reason to hang on. During that time the ALS had taken a toll on his body and his quality of life had greatly diminished, so this news made him so excited and gave him tears of joy. If your Dad is like mine, he wasn’t a crier, and he totally was that day.
From that point on, our daily chats consisted of baby talk, how I was feeling and how my doctor visits were. All of those updates made him so happy and brought him such excitement.
Then in January 2014, Miss H arrived in the world. We got as situated as possible before we hopped on a plane to her to meet her Grandpa and Great Granddad at 6 weeks old. It was amazing. It was the last time I would see my Dad before he passed away 6 months later. I knew that he was holding out to meet Miss H and wanted to know we would all would be okay.
Every so often I go back and look at the first gift he ever gave her – Goodnight Moon. We read it so often we have extra copies so this one doesn’t get ruined. I’ll always hold onto the outfit she wore when she met him and I’ll tell Miss H the story of how she met her Grandpa one day and there will be more happy tears.
I’m telling you this story in tears because it makes me so happy and makes me miss him so much all at the same time. As you can imagine over 18 years, there have been a lot of tears of happiness that my Dad was able to be with us. For years I’ve carried travel size Kleenex with me for those moments and while I’m at home, I have Kleenex all around my house because I never know when a happy tear may be shed.
Believe me, with a 1 year old we cry a lot!
I get my Kleenex in the paper products aisle in Walgreens. While I’m there, I also stock up on extra travel sized Kleenex for my purse, car and diaper bags and boxes for around the house. I also like to pick up gift wrap and cards at Walgreens as I am in the season of life where baby showers and bridal showers are in full force. You never know when you’ll need a card, a bottle of wine to gift or a small gift to give.
Right now you can get a $.75 off coupon for Kleenex so you can have them on hand for your happy tears. You see, not all tears are bad. Sometimes they just give you amazing memories to hold onto.
Do you have favorite a Happy Tears Moment?
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Janet Krugel says
What beautiful memories you have of your dad and now of your little girl. Thank you for sharing your Kleenex moments! [client]
You've got me tearing up! How amazing and special that your dad surpassed the doctors expectations and was able to witness all those special moments!
I remember your dad walking you down the aisle and making sure to party as much as he could the whole time. He fought quite the battle but made sure to see the landmark moments before he became your forever angel
And now I'm ugly crying at my desk. So amazing. What a beautiful memory.
This is such a beautiful story. Thank you for sharing!
The Rad Wife