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| My father, Raymond, in September 2011 |
My father died yesterday morning at home with my stepmother in California. He was 86 and had been receiving in-home hospice care for congestive heart failure since January. His dying was less a surprise than the fact that he hung in there so long.
My father and I became increasingly close as we both aged. He was a gentle man, a good father, and a good husband.
In contemplating our relationship, I've decided that I am most indebted to him for two things. First, though he was an ardent sports fanatic, he never, ever pushed his bookish, nerdy first son to participate in organized sports. (My youngest brother was a jock, so Dad could get his sports "fix" from my brother.) Second, though he wasn't an outdoorsman in the classic sense of the term (i.e., a fisherman or a hunter), he had a real appreciation for the natural world that he passed along to me - a living legacy.
6 comments:
Scott,
Your father had a lovely smile. You were fortunate to have him with you for so long. Please accept my condolences.
Jain
So sorry to hear this sad news, Scott.
Scott: I'm so sorry to hear about your father. You have my condolences. Take care.
I am so sorry to hear about your father's passing, Scott. My sincerest condolences.
Thanks to Jain, John, Carolyn and Packrat for your kind words. I seem to be surprisingly unperturbed by this development in my life; either I'd expected this for so long, or I've grown "cold." I hope it's not the second.
More likely it's because you expected your father's death. I felt similarly unperturbed about my mother's death in December, but recently I've been thinking of her more and more. Her permanent passage into another realm has allowed my mind to patch over the imperfections in her personality and to appreciate the overall good person she was.
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