Eight years.

Today marks the end of the eighth year since we lost the coolest Dad (I'm shamelessly biased, I'm aware) to walk the planet.

I've been thinking all week on how I wanted to commemorate Darkwing's memory today here on LITC.  As I sat down to write last night, I realized that Darkwing would absolutely want his three girls to smile and laugh and remember the best of the days we had with him.  So I decided to reshare with you: my happiest day.  I originally shared this memorry back in February 2011, and it remains one of the favorite posts I've ever written here.  I hope you enjoy.

And to Darkwing: cheers to you - the man I've missed dearly for eight long years, and loved and admired for twenty-six.  xoxo.

***

(Originally posted 11 February 2011.)

I stumbled across the subject of your happiest day, and it had me immediately perusing my memory for what I would call my happiest day.  Quite a few came to mind, but one of the most prevalent memories was this:

June 2004.  My mom, sisters, and I had been living in California for exactly two years that month.  I was a Junior at Beverly Hills High School and remember that year to this day as being my best high school year.  I was carefree, had my own spending money from working at Banana Republic and pulling an internship, and I had great friends.

It was near the end of the school year, and my mom and Big Sister LR told my little sister LMG and me that we would be heading to the airport to pick up my Aunt + Uncle who were returning from an Alaskan Cruise.  LMG and I had plans that afternoon, so we put up a little bit of a stink.  My mom, being the classic Southern Momma that she is, squashed our arguments with one piercing look.

My mom, also being the goofball that she is, asked LMG and me to make signs to hold up as a joke for our Aunt and Uncle's arrival at the airport.  You know, the kind where you normally put a last name or whatnot?  You should have seen the mischievous grins that were plastered to our faces as LMG and I wrote out "Old Man" and "Hot Stuff" on our signs.

We arrived at LAX, and it didn't even strike us as odd that my mom wanted us to go in to greet Old Man and Hot Stuff instead of the usual pull-up-to-the-curb-and-load-'em-up-as-fast-as-you-can move that we have pulled countless times at that busy airport.  We stood inside near baggage claim.  And waited.  And waited.

LMG and I stood in front, wanting to make sure that everyone that passed saw our silly signs and got a little chuckle out of our cleverness.  We craned our necks to look above and around the crowds that were flocking to baggage claim.  A few people would rudely stop in front of us, completely blocking our view for a few moments, and then move on.  We started to wonder where the heck Old Man and Hot Stuff were.  

At one point, a rather tall person in a Panama Jack hat and a Hawaiian shirt walked right up in between LMG and me and positioned himself to directly block our view.  I remember getting a flash of annoyance and craning my neck to look past this person, when I heard a voice that did not belong there.

"How about a Griffin?"

Everything started to move in slow motion.  Griffin is my own last name.  What he said registered to my brain. 

The recognition of my dad's voice, the voice that lived 3,000 miles away in Boston and the voice that was not meant to be in Los Angeles that day, hit me.  

I craned my neck to look up at his 6'3'' frame, wearing his favorite Panama Jack hat, one of his beloved Hawaiian shirts, and his goofy sideways grin.  His eyes were twinkling, and he couldn't have been prouder of himself at that moment that he gave his girls the surprise of a lifetime.

LMG jumped at him, immediately clinging her arms around his neck.  I....  Well, I completely lost it.  In the middle of the waiting area in LAX, I started sobbing hysterically, unable to see through my tear soaked vision, and unable to quit shaking because I was so happy/excited/shocked beyond belief to see my amazing dad, who for the past two years I had only gotten to see for two weeks at Christmastime.

We all five - my mom, LR, LMG, Darkwing, and me - spent the next week together, showing Darkwing around LA, heading to the ocean as many times as we could, exploring book shops and local stores, and soaking up the feeling of being together.

Darkwing, LR, + LMG hanging out in Venice Beach, California.  June 2004.

I had no idea that that would be the last time I saw Darkwing in a setting other than a hospital. It's funny though, because I don't really reference that June week in my memory as the last normal week we spent together.  Which makes me fairly certain that whether or not there had been opportunity for many more of those types of weeks after that one, the way that Darkwing was able to so completely surprise us that day made it one of the happiest and most memorable times ever.