Following up to my post regarding my father’s recent passing, I decided to embed a short slideshow of photos since the aforementioned post only had a self-portrait. Having scanned in older photos, I give you this:
See the album here.
The word “afterlife” is an odd one. The very words used imply death. The idea that it stands for another world beyond our own (which is a grave contradiction) confuses and annoys me. I’m all for science fiction stories with parallel universes, but I realize they do not exist.
When people would tell my mom my dad’s in a better place, she got upset. And she’s a believer (albeit a lax one). “What better place? That’s not better!” My grandmother told me the story when she was burying my grandfather. People would say he’ll float up and she replied, “Then, why am I spending so much to put him in the ground?” And she’s also a believer of some type. The best thing I can say from this is that it was refreshing to hear some doubt amongst believers.
I haven’t posted in a bit. I edited this previous post, but this deserves its own post, maybe several. My father passed on Monday. He had lung cancer and was doing better with treatment, but it only left his defenses down. He suddenly became ill with Septicemia, called 911 with inconceivably bad stomach cramps. He was rushed into emergency surgery where they removed most of his large intestine and colon. My mom called me that Monday, July 6th and said he signed a DNR previous to this surgery and said they were going to remove the breathing tube Wednesday and he probably would not make it. Eric & I booked a flight to Miami the next day.
The first couple days of being there, my dad was out of it, but they removed the rube and he was doing better than expected. We had a few good days together in CCU wearing yellow gowns and blue gloves for safety measures. Or so they don’t get sued.
