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I worked all day today. After a nice, long weekend, it is always so hard to go back to work. But I work with wonderful people and love my job, so it's not so bad. Plus, I followed interns who had very easy patients today.

The weather has been so gorgeous lately. I worry that with all this gorgeous January weather, we are going to have one heck of a storm waiting for us when it does hit. This winter reminds me of California winters and it makes me so homesick.

I remember getting bikes on Christmas. We would see a bike under the tree and be so excited and spend the entire rest of the day biking or skating. Christmas was so fun as a kid. Dad always made sure the tree was full of presents. He would look at what Mom had bought and say, "Go get more". We would all sleep in my bedroom and on Christmas morning, we would send Lori to sneak down the stairs to peek. The hardest thing would be to wait for Dad to get up. It seemed to take forever. We were allowed to open our stockings, then we would eat breakfast and then we could open presents after that. Dad would turn on Christmas music while we were eating. He wanted everything to be just right.

For Christmas, Barbi gave me a book with pictures of Dad. She had sent the pictures in to get bound. Barbi grew up with a different Dad than I had. When she was growing up, he was sick and grumpy. When I was growing up, he was not that way. I would sit and listen to him play the guitar and sing. He would sing "Jesus Wants Me For a Sunbeam" and I would sing along. That's the Dad I remember. I loved the book she gave me because it was pictures of that Dad. Sometimes I really miss him.

Old men come into the clinic and from behind they look like Dad. My first reaction is to yell out, "Dad!" and then I remember that Dad is not here. It always makes me sad. I can't wait to see him again.