Happy Birthday, Dad!

I don't usually share a lot of personal stuff on my blog, but I thought this topic was worthy. I lost my Dad earlier this year. Well, as a cousin so aptly pointed out, we lost our parents years ago, and we've been mourning them. My Dad was still here, but he wasn't my Dad, you know? Don't get me wrong! I loved every minute I got to spend with him these past few years, but the Dad I knew had been gone for a long time. Every once in a while a glimmer would come though in a stray snarky comment, and I truly treasure those memories.

My parents were children of the Depression, and they were excellent savers and re-users. They weren't great splurgers, but when they did something, they did it right. My parents both had a love of good single-malt scotch. They got the good stuff, and they savored it. Not big drinkers, but man, they sipped a good scotch now and then.

In the Jewish tradition, one remembers a deceased family member by lighting a Yartzeit memorial candle on the anniversary of their death, or on Yom Kippur. It's tradition. We always had candles burning on Yom Kippur when we were kids. But I'm a rebel. (No big surprise there.) I think you should remember the good stuff, not the sad stuff, so here's my new plan:

On my Dad's birthday, I will drink a good scotch and toast him. So I went to the liquor store and bought "the good stuff":

I know everyone's definition of "the good stuff" is different. When I walked in, the guy asked "Do you want $1000 good?" Um, no. I settled for 18 year-old Glenfiddich.

In crafty terms, this is a SABLE item: Supplies Available Beyond Life Expectancy. I might need to add this to my will so my kids can carry on the tradition.

And yes, I made a card:

I felt it could be simple. I also felt a burning need to print out a photograph, fussy-cut it, and put it on a card.

About the color and amount of scotch in the glass. First, I had to create a smaller glass (had to), since the only glass I had was too tall. Here's how I over-stamped it and made the smaller glass:

and I just cut out the smaller part of it. As for color and amount of scotch, when I was in Scotland, I had the pleasure of touring a small, still-family-owned distillery, and after the tour, we each got a dram of scotch in a glass. There were also pitchers of water on the table. The woman in charge said, "Please do not insult us and fill your glass with water." Who were we to argue?!?! So what if it was 9:30 am and we were drinking straight single-malt scotch, right? We didn't insult her!

So tonight I plan to have a small toast to my Dad, and remember all the fun things we did and great moments we had. Thanks Dad, and Happy Birthday! *cheers*

Stuff I used: Kelly Purkey/SSS Happy Birthday stamp set, and the following:

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