Happy Birthday

It’s almost the end of the day as this goes up on the net, but it’s important that it goes up today. Today my dad would have been 58. He never made it to his 57. He passed the day before, one year ago yesterday.

It was my dad who made me a baseball fan, and obviously, a Cardinals fan. Because he was and my grandpa (still is). I went to a lot of games with my dad. More than I can remember. Obviously the time was special. It was our time. Just me and him. My parents were divorced at an early age and I didn’t live with dad. But on those baseball nights we got to be together. Even then I knew I knew it was special. I just didn’t know it would be over so soon.

I did live with my dad for a little over a year. After I graduated college and before I got married, I lived with him and my grandpa. I’m so thankful we had that time. All three of us. I was busy and in and out, but it was the most time I probably spent with either of them. Now I wish it had been more.

Sometimes I think it isn’t fair that I only got 29 years with him. Then I remember that my three sisters got less. My youngest sister didn’t get 18 years with him.

It’s mostly unfair for my youngest daughter and my niece and any other siblings or cousins to come. They’ll never know “PawPaw Lam.” My oldest daughter remembers, but only a little. He was good at being a grandpa and I think we all would have loved to see him get to do a little more of it.

Dad was the strongest man I ever knew. He was in a major car accident at the age of 16 which cost him both of his legs. He started his own company making artificial limbs and changed countless lives over 20-plus years in the business. The accident should have killed him-ultimately it did. He contracted Hepatitis C during one of the many blood transfusions that followed his accident. That was in 1966. It stayed dormant for 35 years. He received a liver transplant in 2004 and was strong for a couple of years. The Hepatitis came back and stronger.

For my 29 years he was the greatest man I knew. He remains so. He wasn’t perfect. No one is. But he did a lot of good for a lot of people. Nobody treated people like my dad.

Although not professionally, I’d like to think I followed in his footsteps. In the way he treated people and in the example he set as a person, and my father.

I need to thank my cousin Lisa for encouraging me to write something here. Lisa was also my dad's god daughter.

We love you and miss you every day! Happy Birthday dad!