JameeForever

It's been five years today since I've heard my dad's voice...and I hear time heals. And I believe it some days and some days it feels unbelievable that he can be so far away from me, that I may one day forget the sound of his voice. There's a little corner drugstore in a town north of Kansas City, and although the name remains the same, it is said that without the pharmacist whose name it bears, it isn't going to be the same without him.

The corner druggist is a dying breed--night runs to the drugstore because a child's asthma is flaring up, needing a refill, or sending an elderly man home with his wife's medicines in a bag even though he didn't have enough money needed to pay for the rediculous costs of medicines. Giving the exhausted mom with six children in tow a bag filled with suckers and gum because he never could stand to see a child's eyes long for something so very very simple, yet just not affordable. He really did all these things. If you needed your prescription and you had no way to get to the store, no worries, he'd either have one of us drive it out or swing by on his way home. He made some mistakes for sure, one of them altered everything, but he had a loving, kind soul I was so very lucky to know. And I hope I never forget those lessons I learned from my dad.

I miss him so much it's beyond putting into words. I usually try and forget dates like this, his birthday, the day he died, the last day I saw him, it's just easier. This year, I've come full circle, and it's time to celebrate not his death, but his beginning a new life in Heaven. I know he's with my sister Jamee, who bears his namesake, so I guess it was fitting he should go on a few months ahead and pave the way. Sudden as it was and his being only 59, I wasn't ready, but I've had a few years to realize I don't think at any age I would have been ready to say goodbye. I don't believe any child is ever ready to say goodbye. And never ready to not have a parent to turn to for comfort--that's the hardest part of all.

Jim Poirier