I know that before Dad's passing he didn't want me to remember him as he appeared then, but as he was when he and I were younger. The really funny thing about that is that when Dad passed, even in his eighties, he still had the broad shoulders and muscular arms he's always had. He also still had the mind like a steel trap. From the ICU he wrote and signed four checks he said would need to be paid in the month after his passing, before a death certificate would be issued. He was exactly right. No other bills came due.
Even in those stressful and sad last days, he was always the person he had been before. I know he wanted me to forget those moments, but I won't. I will remember that he was the strong, intelligent, capable and sometimes funny person he had always been. He could also type faster than anyone I knew, but then, he could think faster than many of us also.
I think of you often Dad, anytime I am near the sea. I also think a lot about what you and Matthew and Daniel do there when you see one another. In a sense, I am lucky that my two sons who are gone from Earth have my father there to guide them.
