Thursday, October 1, 2015
Hey Dad, I hope you can get this as an email-of-sorts wherever you are. Its been less than a week, and you're already missed - and missed very badly. I was there as you passed on to better things, better places, and better fishing. All your kids were there....and your sisters and brothers, too. Gloria cried and cried from the deepest wells of her being as you passed. I remember when Lola died she did the exact same thing, and I thought "Wow, she must feel really guilty about something", but now I realize she just really, really loved you (and Lola) from the bottom of her heart. And of course, we all love you from the bottom of our heart too, and that hasn't changed at all. We still love you for who you were, how you cared for Mom, how you provided warmth and hospitality to EVERYONE among friends and family for your entire adult life. You conducted yourself quietly, but with such dignity and compassion, that I am absolutely certain every relative and friend will not only remember you forever as a loving father, brother, grandfather, uncle or friend, but as a model person in so many ways. You taught everyone close to you a little bit about something, whether cooking, fishing, home improvement, three-card poker strategies, city-permit evasion, and how to keep the best lawn in ANY city (Lompoc, Oroville), and those lessons and values will all live on in all of us, so in that sense, a very real and important part of you really hasnt gone anywhere, and I'll keep my eyes open until my dying day looking for those moments and flashes of you, your presence, and your influence in my relatives, my children and my children's children.
And don't forget, always play at least $1 on the bonus, Dad. Always.
