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Thank You!
Thank you for the beautiful flowers that were sent to the funeral home! It was such a nice surprise to see, and I can't thank you enough. I had many people at the visitation ask me who a July Nestie was. I enjoyed telling them about this amazing group of women, who I have never even had the pleasure of meeting, who took the time to reach out and show how much they care. It's been a very busy couple of days, but I did get the chance to read all your kind words in reply to my last post. Thank you for all the support, and thoughts and prayers! I can't tell you all how much I love you girls, and appreciate all you have done!
The last few days have been incredibly difficult. Being at my dad's visitation and funeral were surreal. It was so emotional and painful, and yet at the same time I felt so numb. It just hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that my dad is no longer here. I miss him so very much. We saw each other every single day, and he really was my best friend. I think now that all the services have ended and life is going to go back to "normal", the full impact of him not being here is going to finally hit me. I have no idea how I am going to cope, but I know somehow I will get through.
I know I have told you all a little bit about my dad's bar. Ever since he went into the hospital a few weeks ago, I have been taking care of the place the best I could. He is the only one who had ran the place for the last 35 years, and no one else, including me, knows how to do it. The morning after he went into the hospital, I went and set up the bar and opened the register so they could work for the day. I knew that he wouldn't want it to be closed. I have been setting it up everyday since. My mom doesn't really care about the bar. She knows how much my dad loves the place, and how much the people there love it and my father, but she never shared the same love for it that he did. I do share that. I aways have. That place and the people there was my dad's life. I can't let the place go, and I don't think my dad would want to see it closed or leave the family, so......now I have a bar. I have no idea how to run a bar, and no clue how this is going to work, but I am going to keep that place going for my dad, and for everyone there.
I wanted to share a couple links with you. I'd like to share his obituary and a link to a tribute written on a blog. If you are a fb friend, you have probably seen them. I'm just so proud of this man, and so proud to have been his daughter that I can't help but want to share it with everyone. The blog is from a man who is a writer. Last year he visited one bar a day for a year, and then wrote an article on them on what he called his virtual bar crawl. He lives in NY, but is originally from here. He visited my dad's bar on his 365 tour, and then chose it again as his final stop. If you are interested in the original blogs he wrote on my dad and the bar the website is aguywalksinto365bars.com. He put up a wonderful tribute to my dad on his new blog after his passing.
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/pjstar/obituary.aspx?n=anthony-ward&pid=154908856
http://www.martyafterdark.com/chasing-something-in-the-night/2011/12/6/december-6-2011.html
Re: Thank You!
Just want you to know that I am still thinking of you and your family during this difficult time. Also, thank you for sharing the links. I enjoyed reading about your father's bar. It sounds like a wonderful place. I can tell there is a lot of history and tradition there, and I am glad that you are choosing to let it live on.
I wish you lots of luck as you take on this new challenge. It seems as though your father would be very proud of you for doing so. It also seems as though he would really appreciate it.
Shannon, so glad you enjoyed the flowers we sent and that it brought you a little bit of joy on those sad days. We truly do love and care for you (and all of the other ladies on here), I learned that as well first hand when my dad passed away, you girls are some of the best friends I have!!!
I understand that numb feeling you have, I had it for quite some time, I even have it sometimes, like things don't feel real all the time, or that you're just sliding through. It will lessen, as you start to go back to you "normal" life as you call it. But i tried not to call it my normal life, because it wasn't anymore. It was my "new normal", as it was never going to be the same again, but could still have good things, it helped me cope a little to call it that. Try not to have any expectations for timeline of getting to a place where you are OK, i'm getting to the 10 month mark now from my dad's death, and although i'm OK to function normally, i'm still not OK.
I am so proud of you for what you are doing to keep your father's love of his bar alive, you are so brave and strong. It is a wonderful gesture and I would not have the composure at this point to do that. He must be so proud of you, Shannon.
Keep writing to us, it's never too much. We are here for you always to listen or to vent to or to help if you need. Your dad sounds like a great guy, wish I could have met him
House Renovations
Married Bio
I am a gluten-free, gun-toting wife! :P
I love you, Daddy...2/24/1953 to 2/13/2011