Lost More than a Drinking Buddy
Posted: Sat Apr 11, 2020 9:20 pm
My Dad left us this evening. Not a surprise, as he was 89, but still a tough one.
He was not my biological Dad, but a twenty-something year old guy who married my mother when I was 2 even though she was divorced with three boys. We called him Dad and he treated us as his own. With my mom he added two more boys and we had a starting five. When we fought he went out and bought boxing gloves and told us to take it outside. He was the one who took me to Rams and Lakers and Kings games, bought me my first guitar, and took us all camping and fishing and snow skiing.
He flew around the world repairing satellite navigation systems on supertankers and oversize yachts for a living and still rarely missed any of our age group meets nor the grandkids' meets even through college. One of his many stories was about sitting in the hold of a tanker in some god forbidden place with a dozen guys who only spoke Russian, passing around bottles of vodka until every one of them passed out.
Most of all I will miss his favorite thing in the world to do, gather the family around for a giant dinner on all the holidays. That, and when he would join my brother and me the few times we spent Super Bowl eve smoking a 100lb pig for the big game and stay up all night drinking scotch. "Sippin' stuff" he liked to call it, and always had a good stash of single malts.
So, with all the craziness going on in the world today (he was not aware of Covid-19) I'm going to raise a glass to Dad, his life, and to all of you out there trying your damned best to beat time and get this hobby down pat. Whatever your plans or dreams - do it now, for life is short. May you have many successes creating your own Sippin' Stuff.
He was not my biological Dad, but a twenty-something year old guy who married my mother when I was 2 even though she was divorced with three boys. We called him Dad and he treated us as his own. With my mom he added two more boys and we had a starting five. When we fought he went out and bought boxing gloves and told us to take it outside. He was the one who took me to Rams and Lakers and Kings games, bought me my first guitar, and took us all camping and fishing and snow skiing.
He flew around the world repairing satellite navigation systems on supertankers and oversize yachts for a living and still rarely missed any of our age group meets nor the grandkids' meets even through college. One of his many stories was about sitting in the hold of a tanker in some god forbidden place with a dozen guys who only spoke Russian, passing around bottles of vodka until every one of them passed out.
Most of all I will miss his favorite thing in the world to do, gather the family around for a giant dinner on all the holidays. That, and when he would join my brother and me the few times we spent Super Bowl eve smoking a 100lb pig for the big game and stay up all night drinking scotch. "Sippin' stuff" he liked to call it, and always had a good stash of single malts.
So, with all the craziness going on in the world today (he was not aware of Covid-19) I'm going to raise a glass to Dad, his life, and to all of you out there trying your damned best to beat time and get this hobby down pat. Whatever your plans or dreams - do it now, for life is short. May you have many successes creating your own Sippin' Stuff.
