September 1

You have been on my mind all day.
I haven't told anyone that all day. I don't know why I keep this day to myself.
I just do.

I felt bad to realize that I always remember this day, but not the day my mother died.
Perhaps it is because you were my first great loss.
There have been many since, but today still reminds me of a seventeen year old girl alone in her basement bedroom woken up by the news that you were gone.
The walk up those stairs that morning seemed long and foreboding.

Like with all deaths, things are never again the same.
It has been 40 years.
So today is for you.

Because it is September 1, and because I love you.

William Donald Burton
January 15, 1924 - September 1, 1973
My Dad.