My dad would have been 78 years-old today.
I find it quite impossible to digest that it's already been a year since the last time I saw him face-to-face.
On September 24th last year, Emma and I spoiled dad with a really good birthday.
We'd made the trip back to England especially to be there for the big day. Emma's parents were there with my mum too. And we were doubly excited at being three months pregnant at the time.
In this picture Dad's about to tear into some handkerchiefs from Emma's mother (we McCullochs are big fans of handkerchiefs).
A minute later he opened up the large, framed photograph (also on his lap) of Emma and I on our wedding day that he'd been complaining about not having for a while. That picture is hanging up in mum's flat these days.
After the fantastic birthday dinner that Emma's mum cooked, we all had a slice of a gigantic chocolate cake from Thornton's, and then we played Trivial Pursuit.
True to form, Dad entirely ignored which team he was on, and called out the answers to whichever question he fancied answering.
"Dad! That's not your question!"
"Robert...it's not your turn!"
He didn't care. He had a big smile on his face all night.
He seemed to revel in the fun of breaking the rules. He was the same with Scrabble...always suggesting words for other players (to my brother's eternal outrage!) or pretending he was himself outraged about someone leaving a double-word score up for grabs.
Well, we didn't play Trivial Pursuit tonight, but Emma and I marked Dad's birthday today in a way of which I think he would have approved: with a Chinese dinner!
Dad lived in Singapore for a number of years in his youth and he obviously developed a love of Chinese food while he was there.
I think he would have devoured our feast of walnut prawns, stir fry beef, chinese vegetables and hot-and-sour soup tonight. In fact, we plan on marking his birthday Chinese-style next year too.
Happy Birthday, Dad!
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