Day 7 after Dad died

Today is day 7 since my Dad died. There’s a certain heaviness of heart, to knowing that my last surviving ancestor is gone. I realize life goes on. But I still check my answering machine too many times during the day, to see if he left us a message, while we were out. And I get another lump in my throat, when it occurs to me, what I’m doing, and that there will never be another one of those cheery messages waiting to be played. I can't yet bring myself to get rid of my written list of phone messages from the past month - most from him.