My father passed away January 11th, 2022. I am distraught. My old daddy is dead. The Old Man From the Sea. I keep thinking I must be dreaming? Because he seemed immortal. I just knew he would make it to 100. My father was 46 years old when I was born, and 52 when my youngest sibling was born. This is not so unusual nowadays, but back in the 1970s he really stood out as that OLD dad. Both my grandmothers told me to treasure any time with him because he might not live to see me grown, and pretty much everyone told my mom she’d be widowed young. Well, not only were my parents married for over 50 years, he lived to see not only all his kids grow up, but all of his grand-children as well. He even got to see great-grandchildren, the youngest of which was born on his birthday last year. My father loved us all tremendously, and we all loved him. My heart is hurting so bad. I learned so much from my dad, most importantly that change is possible and it’s never too late to make a fresh start.

This is one of my favorite pics of my mom and dad, it’s from 2013.