Don't be dismayed at goodbyes.

Don't be dismayed at goodbyes.

A farewell is necessary before you can meet again.

And meeting again, after moments or lifetime, is certain for those who are friends.

~Richard Bach

I am back home in Savannah. The ride home on the plane was strange. I wanted to come home but did not want to leave my Mom and Dad. I had been away from my wife for two weeks. Oh I have been gone longer in the past but not recently. It was a long two weeks.

My Dad has good days and bad days but for me they were all sad days. He can look at most pictures and tell you the stories and in 10 minutes he repeats all the stories. He no longer has a concept of time; days and hours have no meaning. He will take a small nap after lunch and wake up and want breakfast. (He naps a lot.) But then some things are still the same; he wont eat egg salad but will eat a boiled egg. He has his hot chocolate morning and evening. Dad has taken up drinking soda. Other than homemade root beer I don't think I ever saw Dad drink a soda. He still likes his candy especially Tootsie Rolls. He has a drawer full of candy and soda.

He loves Mom and told me one night when I was driving him back to the home; "I'm worried about Mom. I don't know what I will do if something happens to her." On my last day he asked me if Deb was ready for me to come home. I said yes and he laughed, "She was ready for you to come home the first day you left." Very true and I wish Deb had been able to be there with me.

Someone was reading the inside of a candy wrapper and the quote was "Be Spontaneous." Dad quipped, "Spontaneity is over rated." Another quote of my Dad's that I heard many times over the years and he stills says is as someone is leaving, "Don't do anything I wont do. And if you do name it after me."

Linda and I went through Dad's files while I was there. Income tax files from 1965, monthly home budgets for the past 30 years, records of every house and property they ever owned, and genealogy notes. I retrieved Dad's genealogy notes and Linda keep the relevant financial records. So for my brothers and sisters and other family members; if Linda and I don't have it we don't know where it is.

I love you Mom and Dad.