You're never too old to want to hear a reassuring word from your parents. Can you stand just one more 9/11 memory? In 2001 my father was still alive (my mother died in 2000). His 3 surviving children (my sister Carol died in 1996) were all over 60. We all called him, "just to talk." When someone has lived through the Great Depression, Pearl Harbor, been a Marine in WWII, created a business, sent you all to college debt free, visited his own parents daily, and rarely complained about his own pain or discomfort, well, you just hope he might have some answers. He didn't. But it sure was reassuring to hear Daddy's voice.
Dad looks like he’s sporting a halo, but it was a dish on the book shelf. In April 2000 he bought the Lustron built by his parents in 1949 and left his lovely apartment at Pinecrest where he had been living with my mom and where his adult children naively believed he was safe and secure. I think this photo was taken at Easter when we drove to Illinois to help him settle in the house. We returned there for our 40th anniversary celebration with Illinois family in September, he flew to Columbus, Virginia and Florida (the grand tour to visit children and grandchildren) in December 2000, and we returned to Illinois in April 2002 to help him move to assisted care. He really couldn’t handle the cooking part of living alone. He died May 18, 2002.
He was always independent and feisty to the end. No halo would have fit.
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