Thank you JK Rowling...

Many saw a post I made on Facebook recently,
"I'm not sure why but my dad has been on my mind a lot the last couple days and I am missing him like crazy!!! What I miss the most is the way I felt wrapped tight in one of his hugs."

But obviously, as I said, my dad has been frequenting my thoughts lately.  It may simply just be that I miss him, or maybe there have just been so many things that remind me of him, or maybe I'm dreading the big milestone coming up in less than a year (10 years gone...).  But either way...I'm writing this post to thank JK Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter series.

I recently began re-reading the Harry Potter series (as I do once every couple years).  Well at the end of books 2 & 3, JK Rowling, through the wise words of Dumbledore, gave me two moments of utter disbelief. 

The first moment needs a little bit of back story for you all to understand why it means something to me.  One of my dad's catch phrases was to exclaim how something was an adventure.  We once got lost a bit while out in San Francisco and upon returning to the hotel, he simply said, "Well, that was an adventure".  This was how he perceived many things that didn't typically go as planned...
Quote number one: "After all, to the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure."
I've read this one many times and it has always been a quote I've held near and dear.  But this next one hit me like a punch in the gut last night, as I was wrapping up the 3rd Harry Potter book.

"You think the dead we have loved ever truly leave us?  You think that we don't recall them more clearly than ever in times of great trouble?". 

I have been struggling with many things lately...Depression/anxiety (damn car accident), my weight loss/self esteem, my worries for the future (and trying to plan it all out), etc. etc. 

That last quote shows you exactly why my dad has been so prevalent in my thoughts as of late.  I have been "recalling him more clearly than ever" while struggling with things.

Thanks JK Rowling, and thank you dad for always being near to me...