My dad, to whom I dedicated my first novel, would have been 80 today. He died more than five years ago and never knew that I'd been offered a contract for my books.
It's amazing how often I think about him. For three or four years after he died, I thought about him every single day. Often it was something my son did that I wished my dad could have been there to see. My son remembers Pop Pop Forbes a little bit, but not in any great detail. I find that sad, but at least there's some memory. My father adored Alex, and I know he was bothered by his poor health and inability to really play with him.
I still think about him often, though perhaps not every day. It's amazing how much I still miss him.
I apologize for the two recent downbeat posts, but that's just how it is at the moment. I'll try to be more cheery next time.
Happy birthday, Dad. I love you and wish you were still around.
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3 comments:
One of the gifts of maturity is to recognize the importance that parents have for us and to have the courage to show them our affection. I have been told touching stories of daughters and sons who took care, until the end, of their old parents with unusual devotion and love.
Keep your father in your thoughts and he'll live in you.
Hi May. Thank you for your kind comments. My biggest regret is that I wasn't with my father when he died. I was at the hospital earlier in the evening after another surgery he'd undergone related to his triple bypass, and things seemed at least stable. I got a call around 1:30 in the morning that he was having "unsurvivable" complications, and before I got there he was gone. The fact that he died alone in a hospital haunts me to this day.
I read some of your blog and like it a lot. I've bookmarked it and will be a new regular reader.
David
Although I understand your regret, I guess that we are alone when we suffer the hardest pain and when it's time to go.
I admire those, like you, who do not fear to go through bad times holding someone's hand until the end. I am not prepared to witness my parents' illness (luckily they are relatively young and in good shape).
Glad you like my online journal!
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