This post is hard. It was hard to start. It was hard to write. I still don’t know what to say exactly other than this has been hard.
Three months ago today, my step dad passed away unexpectedly. I will never forget the sound of my mom’s voice on the phone telling me that he was gone, because my brain won’t let me. Almost every night it replays in my head along with what I imagine happened that day.
Michael came into my life when I was twelve along with his daughter, Amanda. In 1998 my mom & him were married & for the first time we had our family. I will forever be grateful for everything he did for our family & for myself. He loved my mom very much. Trees were a close second though. For thirty eight years, Michael was an arborist for the city of Thousand Oaks. The city planted a tree in his honor near his office on their property.
We decided to celebrate his life at a park in Thousand Oaks that had beautiful large oak trees. Here are some photos from the service, visiting his tree, & of us.
