My dad is still alive and I hope to see him again soon, but I will never talk to him again. Not really. He has Alzheimer's and is progressing strongly. When I was there last, he had a lot of problem placing me in the family, so I know that after this length of time, he will probably not know me at all.
That means I will never see him again, even though I will stand and visit with his body.
There are things that I would like to ask him, ideas I would like to bounce off him. But I won’t be able to.
And it hurts.
My father is a good man who tried his best to be a good father. He and my mother lived in a traditional marriage. He worked all day as a light company lineman and brought his money home to my mother who spend it on groceries and kids’ clothes and bills.
They loved each other and loved their three kids, went to church where my father became a deacon and then an elder. He was even a part-time minister in the Church of Christ and married Ella and me.
He knew a lot about cars and was a great people person. He was a safety representative for Houston Lighting and Power. This is a job that many times made a lot of friction between the safety man and the linemen. Safety men often tried to find the linemen in unsafe situations and would fine them. But he had a way about him that caused him to know all about everybody. He remembered kids being in the hospital and wives who had surgery, birthdays and such. Men who would ordinarily dislike a safety man loved him.
He is a gregarious man. In fact, even though he many times has no idea of where he is or what he is doing there, he will carry on great conversations with total strangers. He just likes people.
Even though he has not died, I miss him. Alzheimer's is one of the worst thing to ever hit the planet, in my opinion. To take the mind and leave the body healthy. It has taken quite a toll on my mother, losing her love and yet keeping his body.
Sure, he had problems in raising me. He was too heavy handed on the discipline, but I always knew he loved me. And he did the best he could.
He is in many ways the man the Bible talks about when it mentions good fathers.
And I love him.
I also miss him.
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