See-ya-bye

Tom's daughter, Kate, spoke during the celebration of life today. She remembered her father as a man of stories and jokes, and the person who was her "first best friend". She told about his words of advice as she headed off to college, telling her she should get drunk - just once - because everyone should know the experience of worshipping the porcelain god. As the pastor pointed out during the homily, Tom was a man who was "comfortable in his own skin", and successfully raised his children to be the same way; to be themselves and live to follow their own paths, rather than those society or others would have them follow.

It was a service filled with music and scripture, followed by a Greek feast; the feast Tom missed celebrating with his church and family at Easter, when he was struggling with health issues. He had promised them that once he was out of the hospital, they would have their own Greek feast. This wasn't the way he had planned it, but it was a lovely tribute and wonderful food.

As she finished her reflections, Kate told of her father's traditional saying when parting ways. Tom didn't say "Goodbye" when he or his loved ones left for a time. Instead he had his own word, which meant "I love you always", "God be with you", and "until we are together again". This they all understood, and responded to him with the same, single word.

See-ya-bye.