30 years ago....A sad anniversary

July 30th will mark the 30th anniversary of the death of my father and for me,after all these years even, I still miss him. It's seems like only yesterday me and my brothers took that sad flight to Southern California to be at dad's bedside as his life slipped away from a ruptured brain aneuyrism.
There are so many things that I wish dad could have lived to see. He never got to see his grandkids and I know they would have brought him great joy in fact my oldest son is named after him and it would bring me great joy if he turned out to be the kind of man his grandfather was....dad would be real proud of him. He didn't like fishing much but loved smoked salmon, wish I could give him some of mine or share some crab, another thing he loved.
Dad worked hard all of his life and was a veteran of WWII. He never complained about anything and took what life dealt him in stride. He loved to laugh and enjoy a beer every now and then while tinkering away in his garage workshop.
I grew up listening to the LA Dodgers with dad and during the season his little transistor radio was ever present.On all the trips we took to Dodger Stadium dad was like a little boy when his heroes were on the field.
There is not a day goes by that I don't think of him and am filled with regrets of the things he and I would never get to do together.
I love my dad and I still miss him to this very day.
So any of you that have parents that are getting up there in years take the time to call them or spend time with them because you never know what the next day will bring. Take the time to tell them you love them and tell them how much you appreciate them.

[love2fish]

Stew,
I can relate to what your saying. I lost my dad 33 years ago when I was 15. We were just starting to do stuff together and getting really close. I still think of him everyday, and enjoy the memories I have.

love2fish

[SHLEPROCK]

I can also relate since today is the 8th anniversary of my brothers death. He lived in Kalama and was a jeweler in Longview.

[LIMIT LANDER]

Stew my heart go out to you my friend....four years ago I lost my Mother a year and a month later my dad died...6 months after that my only brother passed away in his sleep...10 years ago my wifes mother died and she has only been to the grave sight once....because it hurts so bad for they were so close, she cant take seeing her name on a head stone. I hurt with you my friend, and the more you get older, the more you miss them. And i know that every fathers day it hurts more. My heart is with you my friend. being a Christian the hope that i have is...

[Mr. Carp]

This is a very hard subject and not something people should have to deal with. Sometimes life is not fair.... :depressed:

[ 07-27-2003, 11:17 PM: Message edited by: Mr. Carp ]

[Cool Texan]

Stew....I share your pain. 7 years ago (Sep 13...3 days after my birthday) my father died. Father of 5, triathlete, inventor, all around amazing person. Died much too young. It still does not take much to bring tears to my eyes in talking/thinking about him.

http://www.geocities.com/oregon_texan/Dad.htm

Just over 2 years ago (Apr 21) my step-father of 22 years passed away suddenly from an accident at the house. So its a double whammy for me.

http://www.geocities.com/oregon_texan/steve.htm

To make it worse, my wife and I are expecting a child (not till late March, but its coming). She lost her father when she was 2 years old, and her step-father (now divorced from her mother) doesn't seem to show much interest in maintaining a relationship with her despite a lot of effort from her part. He lives in Corvallis....so its not like distance is an issue. So when our child is born, it is looking like he/she will never have a grandfather...will never get to experience that kind of relationship. :depressed: Makes me sad just thinking about it.

But....as my father used to tell me, "Hey, any day above ground can't be all bad". So true.

The fun part will be in naming our children. Boy names are easy. #1 will get her fathers first name and my grandfathers middle name (my middle name also). Too many peeps in my family with my fathers name...and we wont use his middle name. Creepy part of it...he has the same middle name as my wifes father, and also my step father. :shocked: Yeah, we'll just avoid Frederick. :grin:

Hang in there Stew. And thanks for the good advice.

[greenbuttskunk]

I lost my closest friend at the age of 19 to the same thing. She was so healthy and full of life. She was away at college when I got the news. I was
leveled by it. I still miss her so much, even after 20 years. I wonder what she's be doing these days, I know we'd still be close.
GBS

[TundraIII]

I envy all of you. I was not so fortunate. What a wonderful thing it must have been to have these people in your lives. :smile:

[SLEDDER]

Stew, Thanks for the advice. We get so busy in our lives we tend to forget the important things.

[1pump]

Well said, Stew. When I was younger I took my parents for granted (like a lot of kids do) and never gave a thought that they might not be around someday.
My dad is going to be 87 next month, and my mom will be 83 in 2 weeks. Both my parents are WWII vets (that's how they met) and my dad is a Korean War vet as well.
My dad, being a city kid from Cleveland, never cared much for outdoor passions (living in tents year-round in Korea caused that) but when I developed an interest in fishing, he gamely took me wherever I wanted to go, even if he would have rather been on the golf course or gardening. When I started duck hunting 20 years ago, he thought I completely lost my mind. He couldn't understand why anybody would sit in a boat or blind all day in the rain guarding a decoy spread. "You must've got that from your mother", he'd tell me while shaking his head in disgust. I'm sure he was thankful that I was old enough to indulge in this new passion on my own, so he wouldn't have to take me.

Anyway, enough rambling. I'm gonna follow Stew's advice and head over to the parents house in a couple of hours for a BBQ.