Hey gang...
Yeah I'm still alive! It's been a long time since I've written and to be honest, I was worried I had lost my desire. A lot has been happening...big life changes...tough decisions. I haven't had the extra time to sit down and write and I haven't really felt like it. But yesterday i got a piece of news that made me get back in gear and probably start laying out my next book. Like "A Ragamuffin Christmas", I think I'm going to start it off as a blog series and see how it flies.
Yesterday I got the sad news that one of my childhood friends' father had passed away. Mr. Wilkins was a big man. He worked for the power company after serving in the Marine Corp. His youngest son John was one of my dearest friends growing up on Monroe Avenue. He remains a friend to this day.
Johnny's dad joins Mr. Messick and Mr. Ferraro as dad's from the block who have gone on to heaven. I am sad to be marking the time in this way.
Monroe Avenue was a dead-end street we were kids. (It's be redesigned now and traffic flows through). It was a wonderful place to grow up back then. We were all friends, we had traditions and habits and secrets that only the kids on the block knew.
We did things that the next generation (our kids) will never know about or experience. I am starting to realize that we were the last truly innocent generation. After us, life began to get complicated much earlier and kids don't do the things we did. So that is what the next series will be..."The Last Innocent Age". It's stories of growing up in a time when life was easier, kids were safer, and the world was still a happy place. Stories of telephone pole tag, sandlot baseball, Saturday fishing trips to "Nonesuch" creek, holding our own Olympics, and learning about life. Stories that will mostly make you laugh, sometimes make you cry, and always make you remember when you did things much the same way. I'm hoping it'll be special, and wonderful...especially for my friends from Monroe Avenue...who may be the only people in the world who know how to play "Hinyaman"
Craig
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Happy Birthday Morgan
May 7 1998 at exactly 10PM Morgan Wray Daliessio took her first breath and began her journey in this world. Every day since that one has been filled with joy with every thought of her, with each bright smile, with each amazing comment.
I have had the privilege of being her daddy for 12 years now. I can't come to grips with where it has gone and with how fast it is flying by.
Years ago my friend Rick wrote a song for his son and it so perfectly encapsulates how I feel for my daughter. I need to post some of the words here. I am working from memory so I can't vouch for exactness but here goes...
"Oh the happiest day I have ever known, was the day you took your first breath.
And to watch you grow in the warmth of the sun, is the only other wish I could ever have.
But if cold night winds should begin to howl and if trouble should come your way
Remember these words I'm telling you now
And all your days I pray you'll call His name
Rain will fall as it surely must, on the heads of the wicked...and the just
God forbid that rain turn your dreams to rust.
And all your days I pray you'll call His name
On that bittersweet day many years from now when you take your first steps on your own
Remember these words I'm telling you now
As much as I've loved you, there is One who loved you more
So if cold night winds should begin to howl and if trouble should come your way
May the warmth of the sun comfort and guide you May those cold night winds stay forever behind you
If you lose your way, know that God will find you
And all your days I pray you'll call His name"
Even before I finished typing those lyrics I was in tears
I guess it's as much because I know Rick and how much he loves his children as it is how perfectly this song says what I feel for my little girl...who isn't so little anymore.
She was perfect. Tiny and quiet and content and perfect. I was so scared and in awe of her. From the moment we found out we were having a baby I knew I loved her. That has never changed.
She has a heart full of amazing dreams and hopes and I am sworn to seeing them come true. I am shaping this arrow of mine and finding targets to aim at. Targets that are a little farther away each time. Each time she flies she travels a little farther from my bow. It's all in preparation for that one bittersweet day...many years from now...when I will know in my soul the target she was meant for and I will put her to flight...through tears and with a pained heart. God will whisper those dreaded words in my ear..."There it is...that's her target...now let her fly!"
I hope I will be ready for that day. I hope I will have her ready for it as well.
Until then, I am racing home to a devastated Nashville TN with a beautiful black Ibanez guitar in my trunk, (THANK YOU Skip D!) because my daughter dreams of making music. 12 years comes and goes so fast and the next 6 will be but a blink and a breath. She is my everything, my sun and sky and moon and stars. and each day with her is the kiss on the lips God gave me to let me know He loved me by giving me such a wonderful daughter, and loved her by giving her a dad who loves her as much as I do.
Happy Birthday Morgan Wray
Each day with you is a birthday present all it's own.
Your Daddy Loves you!
I have had the privilege of being her daddy for 12 years now. I can't come to grips with where it has gone and with how fast it is flying by.
Years ago my friend Rick wrote a song for his son and it so perfectly encapsulates how I feel for my daughter. I need to post some of the words here. I am working from memory so I can't vouch for exactness but here goes...
"Oh the happiest day I have ever known, was the day you took your first breath.
And to watch you grow in the warmth of the sun, is the only other wish I could ever have.
But if cold night winds should begin to howl and if trouble should come your way
Remember these words I'm telling you now
And all your days I pray you'll call His name
Rain will fall as it surely must, on the heads of the wicked...and the just
God forbid that rain turn your dreams to rust.
And all your days I pray you'll call His name
On that bittersweet day many years from now when you take your first steps on your own
Remember these words I'm telling you now
As much as I've loved you, there is One who loved you more
So if cold night winds should begin to howl and if trouble should come your way
May the warmth of the sun comfort and guide you May those cold night winds stay forever behind you
If you lose your way, know that God will find you
And all your days I pray you'll call His name"
Even before I finished typing those lyrics I was in tears
I guess it's as much because I know Rick and how much he loves his children as it is how perfectly this song says what I feel for my little girl...who isn't so little anymore.
She was perfect. Tiny and quiet and content and perfect. I was so scared and in awe of her. From the moment we found out we were having a baby I knew I loved her. That has never changed.
She has a heart full of amazing dreams and hopes and I am sworn to seeing them come true. I am shaping this arrow of mine and finding targets to aim at. Targets that are a little farther away each time. Each time she flies she travels a little farther from my bow. It's all in preparation for that one bittersweet day...many years from now...when I will know in my soul the target she was meant for and I will put her to flight...through tears and with a pained heart. God will whisper those dreaded words in my ear..."There it is...that's her target...now let her fly!"
I hope I will be ready for that day. I hope I will have her ready for it as well.
Until then, I am racing home to a devastated Nashville TN with a beautiful black Ibanez guitar in my trunk, (THANK YOU Skip D!) because my daughter dreams of making music. 12 years comes and goes so fast and the next 6 will be but a blink and a breath. She is my everything, my sun and sky and moon and stars. and each day with her is the kiss on the lips God gave me to let me know He loved me by giving me such a wonderful daughter, and loved her by giving her a dad who loves her as much as I do.
Happy Birthday Morgan Wray
Each day with you is a birthday present all it's own.
Your Daddy Loves you!
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