Dad’s Birthday Today. And We Remember. 

🟣My Dad is Neville Moriarty. It’s been over 2 years since he died, today is his birthday and he would have been 79. If he was alive I would have teased him about being nearly 80 and we would have had a joke about wrinkles.  Thought not here in body, more than ever, my Dad’s spirit lives on in our hearts. 

🟣My Dad was the first to admit that he wasn’t perfect, but I can honestly say that he was as close to perfect as a human can get when it came to being a fantastic father. 

🟣He has given me such wonderful memories. Both of my parents gave me all of the opportunities a child could ask for. I wasn’t always grateful at the time, but maturing into middle age (scary to even admit that!), I certainly appreciate all of their efforts. 

🟣I have so many wonderful memories that it is hard to choose my favourites, but my memories of fishing with my Dad and sitting around our camp site in the bush, smelling peppermint trees and talking about life are some of my favourites. 

🟣Dad was very proud of the name he called our aluminum fishing boat, the “QE3”, he found this very amusing. See photo as to why!

🟣He was always full of pragmatic, quality, reasonable and wise advise. This is something I miss terribly as he always could see through craziness of situations and see the facts, which was often a comfort for me. 

🟣Dad’s life reminds me every day to be a decent human being, to treat others with respect even if they don’t deserve it, to be kind and thoughtful and most importantly to mix a decent burley for the boat and have at least 3 fishing lines out each on the QE3 (you can imagine the tangles!).

🟣Not long before Dad died, he said to me “I’ve got a good 8 years of life left in me”. He had researched and calculated his estimated age of death. He also acknowledged, that this was just an estimate. We had many lengthy conversations about life and death. These conversations taught me to be comfortable to have conversations and hold space for life, death and grief. People like my Dad have impact, and his spirit certainly encompasses me and my work with Grief Connect.

🟣”So, Happy Heavenly 79th Birthday Dad. Mum and I miss you so much every day. I know you’d be so proud of Grief Connect, thanks for telling me you were proud of me while you were alive. I think of  your words everyday. Love your daughter, Michelle Moriarty”.