Sunday, October 22, 2017

Curve balls

I am English, so the blog title is for my American readers. In the brit vernacular, it would be something like being bowled a googly.


My daughter Tamra went from being a child to a teenager to an adult in about 3 nanoseconds. Heck, February was brutal, made all the more difficult because my wife was away in Texas when yje poo hit the fan. i did find out that I was a decent parent, i just wish she could have been kinder and made better decisions.


My dad got sick. He had been unwell for sometime, but the doctors thought they had the problem nailed down. During May he entered hospital several times and was treated and discharged. Late May he was admitted and they did more tests and I was calling home often and getting more and more frustrated about not being there. Mid June and he was very unwell and the consensus was cancer of the stomach. The prognosis was poor and they all thought he would only be here for another few months. We decided to go home and flights were booked. The next day my brother Steve, who was going thru his own personal hell but was still being tireless for mum called saying Dad was really going downhill. Mum called later with teh same news. I decided to move my flights forward to leave that night. 5 minutes before I was due to leave to drive to SFO, my mum called. 7:00 pm here ='s 3 aM there, and as soon as I heard her voice I knew it was too late. My Dad passed away on June 19th. He was on his own, no family around. That's not how it should be.

I flew home, Linda and Tamra came the next day. Jenny got special leave and a lot of help from the USAF with her passport and arrived 2 days later, and amazingly Josh was in England on business. All the american side was there!


So many friends, so many cards and flowers and well wishers and support and LOVE. I never knew, never knew. My Dad, an ordinary bloke, fun, witty, sometimes too quiet, a little stern at times, but fair, passionate about his family. And this story of his life, and his affect upon people and he was just being his self. An un assuming man who seem's to have been everyone favorite friend.

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