Tag: Dad

Dec. 7, 2013 – A Walk To Remember

On By AngeliaIn Angelia's Photography, Beautiful Life, In my heart forever & ever, Timeless Treasures33 Comments

Although today was my day off and I finally got to enjoy our wintry weather, I have worked very hard.

I have worked hard to make sure this day is exactly right. Perfect, if you will.

See, today is one of those days that you never forget. The moment the clock strikes midnight, it settles over your mind. This presence doesn’t just linger around, but it gets comfortable. It fluffs up the pillows, shakes out the covers, and leans back to witness every part of the next twenty-four hours. And although, I want to fast forward the day, because there are other days, I would rather remember…

I just can’t.

I find myself not running away or speeding through it, but settling down too. Fluffing my pillows, kicking my feet up, and just enjoying my time with it.

So, I can remember.

And remember well, as I celebrate my wonderful treasures, and uplift them with great honor.

I thought of a million ways to get this right, but in the end. I made a video.

I hope you enjoy my day, and my walk. I hope you see the beauty in how it is lived and presented.


Click here to watch the video online.

My Dad died while I was blogging and it means the world to me that this blog holds what was in my heart that day (and continues to). I don’t ever want to forget them and I am so grateful to WordPress for this means to journal and share – the good stuff and the tough stuff.

God Bless you all for watching.

We are having a bit of winter here in Texas…..more on that later.

YouTube Cover Photo

© Angelia's Photography

Remembering Dad

On By AngeliaIn In my heart forever & ever14 Comments

Two years ago, I lost my Dad.

It was unexpected. He was only sixty-three years old.

I am not one to question the timing of anything. I know there is a time and a season for everything…even our loved ones – as hard as that is.

I don’t want to be sad (there have been a few tears). I just want to commemorate his life, and the time I had with him.

I found this poem online, and it couldn’t be more perfect.


    A Perfect World
    by Ron Tranmer ©

    In a perfect world,
    death would never be.
    Love would be forever,
    and last eternally.

    In a perfect world,
    you’d still be by our side,
    lighting up our happy lives.
    You never would have died.

    In a perfect world,
    sadness would not be found.
    Love and life, and happiness
    forever would abound.

    Dad's OU blanket and Christmas fern.

    Perhaps that perfect world
    awaits us when we die.
    A world where eternal bliss
    is found in heaven’s sky.


    We’ll cling to faith and hope,
    for God is a God of love,
    and in His time we’ll join you
    in a perfect world above.


I miss laughing with you Dad. I can’t believe two years have passed. I think of you often, and know you are in my heart always.

“What the heart has once known, it shall never forget.” — Author unknown

The Square Root of Father’s Day

On By AngeliaIn Beautiful Life, In the lives of children, Into the Blender we go- Wee!11 Comments

Father’s Day.

I have such a hard time with this one. It’s a mathematical puzzle, I can’t solve or calculate.

On one hand, it’s the day I think of my dad’s more than any other. It’s a day I smile and remember (precious memories)……. and it’s the day I miss them terribly.

It’s the week when I see a picture of a bride dancing with her father at her wedding and it makes me cry inconsolably.

I wish for many moments with them. I wish for them to know my step-daughters. I wish for that last hug, and last good-bye – just one more conversation, one more Christmas, one more birthday, one more Father’s Day.

It’s Father’s Day and mine are in heaven and if yours aren’t, I hope you squeeze them real tight.

And yet………

I have a wonderful husband in my life who is one of the BEST dads in the world. Not only to his two little girls, but to my daughter as well. He married me and got a full-time teenager. What in the world was he thinking?

Out of all the horror stories of marriages with teens, and he didn’t run away. He took on the challenge. For that alone, he should be celebrated as the hero he is. But it’s more than that, he loves her like his own too.

Accepting another person’s child as your own is the hardest thing to do in a blended family. For that I am so grateful…..

It truly makes life a blessing and it makes Father’s Day a whole lot easier for me.

My daughter is very lucky to have you. She is lucky to have her dad in the picture as well. Sydney gets what I had growing up – two WONDERFUL Dads. A gift more precious than gold.

So Jason, I picked some photographs out of the archives. Ones that I think celebrate the loving and caring Dad you are. Ones I hope show how much I love the father you are to these children.

The impact you have on these lives will last a life-time. I hope you know how much you mean to them by just being you and holding tight. I am so proud of you.

As a daughter, I can say, there is nothing more soul-filling than a Father’s love. Thank-you for gifting your love to our daughters.


Dad, step-dad, great husband, and one of the nicest guys I know.


Always a helper and support, you lend a hand to not only your daughters, but to anyone else that needs it.


Your accomplishments are always made sweeter by the joy that is shared by your family.


Despite a bitter divorce, you insisted on having a picture of the girl’s mom in their room at your house.


You are never afraid to be silly.


You uphold your dad duties of caring for your children and have never passed off that responsibility. From dinner, to bath, to bed-time book reading you do it all and cherish every moment.


Not many fathers are as proud as you are of your three beautiful daughters.


Not many step-fathers are such important mentors in their teen daughter’s life.


Not many Dads display such fine artwork on their refrigerator.


You are truly our knight-in-shining armor.


We are so blessed to have you.

Happy Father’s Day with love!

Digital Destiny

On By AngeliaIn Angels among Us, In my heart forever & ever, Posessed by Nikon15 Comments

Did I ever tell you why I got my camera? It wasn’t just from scouring blogs and seeing Ahh-mazing pictures, wishing I could take photos like those (that was part of it). But it was also because of my Dad.

He always had a camera. He always took pictures. Now, were they good pictures? Eh, not so much, but he loved taking them.

We have pictures of every cat he had, every dog, every weekend visit. When he was stationed in Germany, he took tons of pictures of quaint German towns he visited, and other places in Europe. Plus, every visit as adults with and without grandkids. Every one.

And he didn’t take them just of us, and his pets. He took them of every animal he ever found as well. His hog nose snake, Inky Stinky the skunk, turtles, lizards, and more. Any wild life he found or discovered, he was taking a photo. The last one I remember him showing me, with deep chuckles and grins, were of three baby raccoons trapped in a trash can at the local park. The pictures were found laid out on his desk after he died.

He had discovered the triplets on his daily walk, ran home and got his camera, then tipped the can low enough to take their picture inside. Then he called the park ranger to rescue them and waited until he did. He got the biggest kick out of that. Those baby coons in the trash. Little scavengers with thoughts of sweet nothings in their head having no idea they’d get stuck and be using their big eyes to peer up and spot my Dad.

That was my Dad. He loved wild life. He loved animals. He had a heart for rescue and nature. With all his might, he would try to capture those moments with his little disposable camera.

When he died, I used some funds from his insurance policy to buy my Nikon D3000; my first DSLR. A tribute to him. A camera that does capture what you want it to, in the way you want it to, without ever disappointing. It’s amazing.

It ignited a fire, a desire to learn everything about photography. And now, I have taken the next step in my journey. One year after purchasing my DSLR, and one year after my father’s death, I took my first class to get certified in photography, and not only know my way around the lens creatively, but technically as well.

I met my teacher last night. He is a wild life and landscape photographer. He volunteers at Fossil Rim (an animal wild life park), and at the local animal shelter (plus he teaches photography every night).

Don’t think I didn’t catch the significance in that. Don’t think I didn’t notice his love of animals. And don’t think I didn’t miss his teaching pictures are of meerkats and hawks.

Don’t think I didn’t realize how destined this class was. Oh Dad, my Daddy-O, you are here. In my heart and with me every step. I miss you and I thank you for the love you instilled. I know you would be proud, and just as delighted as I am.

If I did happen to miss all those important things, I certainly would not have missed the picture I took later that night for my 365 project.

I saw the “one” significance to my day. All the ones pointing up towards the heaven. Do you know there is a story that when it’s 11:11 all the Angels point their wings to the sky? I don’t know if this is a true tale, or a child’s tale, but I always think of that when I see 11:11. Yesterday not only was it 11:11, it was 1/11/11.

I saw my digital destiny and I can’t wait.