I leave tomorrow morning to head home, where my dear Quincy will pick me up and we can spend Christmas together. I have missed him so much through all of this, and I still feel the saddest when I think that he and my father will never get the chance to meet. My sisters are going to take care of Mom tomorrow and Thursday, and since we're keeping Christmas low-key, it's ok that I'm heading back before the holiday (it was the easiest and cheapest thing to do anyway).

Susan brought down a copy of what she read at Dad's service, plus I got Jeff's and Lynda is going to e-mail me a copy so eventually I can scrapbook them and possibly do up a slideshow and/or a website. I figured posting here what I read at the service would be a good idea, so here it is.

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Lessons My Father Taught Me

My dad was a great guy, and he taught me a lot about life – not so much in what he said, but in what he did. Since he can't do it himself, it's my job to make everybody smile in his place, so let me share some of the simple guidelines he lived his life by that I hope I can live by too:

• Be hard-working, even if it makes you Sleepy;
  
• Be adventurous, even if the Doc tells you to be careful going down Summit Plummet;
  
• Be young, especially at Disney World, because it's the only way to stay Happy;
  
• Be loving, but it's ok to be a little Bashful about it;
  
• Be kind, even when you're in the hospital feeling Sneezy;
  
• Be happy, especially when you want to be Grumpy;
  
• and most importantly, be yourself, even if people think you're a little Dopey.

There's so much we could all share about him, but these simple things – work hard, have a sense of adventure, feel young, love and be loved, be kind, be happy and be yourself – these were what made him so wonderful, and these are the things we should all remember about him.

45 years ago Dad told Mom a story, and good things happened - she married him; they had Lynda, Susan and me; Jeff and Jim joined in; then came David, Michael, Christina, Spencer, Mindy and Bobby. And all along the way we had Uncle Buddy to make us smile. So let me tell you that story to make you smile and remember what a great guy he was:

"There I was, in the middle of the lake, when all of a sudden the oars started to leak and the lake upset. So I dove overboard, saved the woman's fifty thousand dollars, swam ashore and fed peanuts to the elephants – made in the shade, done in the sun just for fun with a little profit on the side."

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It only scratches the surface of what a wonderful person he will be remembered as, but it's a start, at least for me.

I'll update more when I get home. Until then, Merry Christmas to all who celebrate it.