Missing you, Dad

Photo collage of Sybil Taylor and her father.

Photos and collage by Sybil Taylor

Words cannot express how much we all miss you, Dad. It has been six years without you, six years not seeing and enjoying your smiling face. I miss you planting your seeds in the garden, growing lots of veggies and fruit, spending hours out in the yard, cooking spaghetti and meatballs. My dad loved canning his pickles and cucumbers and tomatoes. He was very good at what he did, like grilling hotdogs and hamburgers and steaks and corn –  it all smelled so good. Fresh cut watermelon.  Our favorite soda was root beer. I enjoy lots of memories of Dad. He loved his sports and his news. He loved reading his morning paper every day. He loved doing people’s taxes. He loved saving up his money. 

My dad started out at 7-years-old when he got his first job, working for the Washington Daily News as a paperboy. He was very hard working. He helped his family. He was very smart and gifted and could save without spending.  My Dad was at his best when he graduated from Cardozo Senior High School, where he met my mother and fell in love with her. He later joined the Army, which he wanted to do. He and Marvin Gaye went in together. They went to the same school and were friends. He came home from the Army on leave and got engaged to my mom and later they got married. “Dream Come True,” the song by the Temptations, was how he saw my mother.  He was the best Father and Grandfather and best Husband to my mom. He treated her like pure gold. He took her to all the Motown shows during the 1960’s, brought her nice outfits and a Diana Ross wig, and she always got her hair done, too. He was the best dad.  He would walk us to school and pick us up from school, we would go shopping with him for groceries. We all traveled together downtown to shop at the old five-and-ten store on 7th Street N.W. Dad, you are missed by us all. When you left to go home with Jesus it broke our hearts. To see you pass away at home in the bed brought sadness to us. Even to visit your grave is sad but joy comes in the morning, peace at night. You are in a new home in your “Mansion in Heaven.” Dad, we all love you. Keep smiling down from heaven. I Love you, Dad. Love always. 


Issues |Death

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