My dad was a nice guy. He had nice manners and he had a dry sense of humor. He was quiet, private and pleasant to be around. He loved me and my sisters very much.
My parents got divorced around 8 years ago. They had been married for over 30 years when the got divorced. It was an unpleasant thing and a real shame. Both my parents grew and changed from the experience, but it was still too bad.
My dad and I got to take a trip together to Seattle last May. We had a good time and visited his mom, who's still alive, at 102 years old. We thrift shopped, we walked around windowshopping, we gabbed, we watched "Titanic" on HBO.
I miss my dad.
I didn't see him often, and once he got off the internet we interacted less.
But I still miss him.
In the last couple of years he got a girlfriend, and he had other friends around the country. I suspect that kept him entertained, and that he was enjoying his life pretty much. He was collecting stuff, working on rehab projects, things like that.
The folks he worked with all loved him a bunch. Like I said, he was a nice guy. He left us girls and even mom some money from his insurance and savings.
I'm not morbidly depressed that dad died. I don't dwell on it, or have it over me like a shround. I just miss him every once in awhile, and it's sad that he died. Pretty much, I don't believe that the soul is impermanent, instead I believe it's a constant that goes on after we die in this life.
So I don't totally feel that my dad is gone, just dead.
the Postscript to this story.
The day I returned from funeral leave, I was sacked from my job. "The job was going in another direction." I was handsomely compensated, so I didn't look real hard for another job. Then I started looking and didn't get a lot of answers. So I stayed home with Xcylur. I spent a lot of time relaxing. Computer games, TV, stuff like that.
So then I got a couple of temp/employment companies looking for me, and I'm temping now, and interviewing later in the week. I should be back in a normal gig soon.
I'd rather stay home with Xcylur. Not to keep slacking, but instead to do stuff, sewing, crafting, writing, and most importantly, spending time with Xcylur. He has a loose tooth that doesn't want to come out, and he hates to wiggle. He's reading pretty well at home, but at school freezes up. Just to be with him really.
Mike is going to go to an institue style comp sci training at the local Jesuit University. It's supposed to give you all you need to be up and running in an IS career in 6 months. I'll still have to work some more after that, but not forever.
We'll probably have to move to get a really good job. That's okay with me. I like Omaha, but I'm ready for a change.
I keep having dreams about living in Seattle. Mike's brother has moved there. It would be nice for Mike to get to see him.
Kansas City, St. Louis, and then dream places like Washington DC and San Francisco come to mind. Clubs. Gaming in large groups. SCA in big numbers. Greater Bay Area Costuming Guild. The Guilded Pearl. LARPA, Xandria, the list goes on.
I'm not adverse to staying in Omaha and making a little more and living a little better. But I also want to see more of the world.