RIP Dad

(12/31/1937 - 7/20/2002)
Nature's first green is gold
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
(Robert Frost)

So yesterday was the anniversary of my dad's death and I wanted to write a little about him and this will hardly sum him up but, it's a start.

He loved country music and his Marlboro's (he started smoking before he was a teenager). He was always ready to help out his friends. He worked hard his entire life (and his hands reflected same), but always laboring for himself as a small business owner. He loved art and poetry. He loved spending time with friends, whether drinking coffee in the morning, playing in his band, or lifting weights in the garage at night with his daughters' suitors. He had a ridiculous sense of humor, and enjoyed sharing a good story.

His death was as memorable as his life, although his death was unexpected, tragic, and surreal for his family (his heart attacked him and he slid off the tractor he was riding and under a tractor mulcher).

Dad's funeral was standing room only. I heard later that the funeral home didn't hold everyone that showed, so people stood around outside and then followed the procession to the cemetery.

♥