09/21/2026
You are free now DADDIO.
Somehow in the grief I find myself feeling grateful. Grateful he is no longer suffering. Grateful for every memory we made together, the ordinary ones, the ones that felt small at the time, the ones I did not know I was collecting until I needed them. Grateful that he was ours.
James Dureen. Jim. Jimmy. Daddio. Grandpa. The strongest man I have ever known with the biggest heart to match.
He showed up not because someone asked him to but because it never occurred to him not to. He raised us Dureen girls to be strong, to work hard, and to still have a little fun along the way. Every bit of that lives in me.
How do you choose just one photo of someone who had a smile like that.
The Donald Duck voice. The sound of you saying love you kiddo. Picking up the phone and hearing Hey Tace it’s Dad. You reminding me not to leave my gas tank on E and me never listening. The way your whole face lit up the second you saw the kids. Those are the things I will miss. The things I did not know I was collecting until now.
The last few years have been a lot. Growing my family. Building a business. And at the same time slowly losing you.
Motherhood and Entrepreneurship cracks you open. It forces you into the parts of yourself that are not healed and asks you to grow through them anyway. Going through all of this while learning to be a mom and building TJC is what got me through it. It gave me purpose when everything else felt like it was slipping. It made me better even when I was breaking.
Whatever I have in me, the guts, the grit, the refusal to quit, I did not find that on my own.
I got it from you.
You are my example, Dad. You always will be.
I hope I am making you proud.
Rest easy Daddio.
Love always and forever, Kiddo. 💔