A few years ago, my sister and I flew down to Florida for a visit with mom and dad. It was fun to hang out with them. We became more familiar with their home there and why they enjoyed being there. Dad was especially happy to have a home on the canal. He looks pretty contented in the photo above. Subsequent photos of him indicate he was really failing in the months and years after this photo, as his face often had a weary expression. It looked like it was just plain hard for him to maintain his physical body, like it was hard work and not much fun. For such an active guy, I think it was especially hard to have a body that wouldn’t cooperate.
Here he is with his 3 great grandkids in their Halloween costumes. Dad’s got that a familiar look of faux surprise at something being said. He was often a good sport kinda guy, with a lovely sense of humor.
When he was young, he had a ton of energy and enthusiasm for just about everything, it seems. Here he is dancing with mom at my aunt and uncle’s wedding. He loved parties and having fun with people.
And he was also a very good photographer. He used to take good still shots. Then when video cameras became accessible, he had a series of them over the years. At every holiday gathering, he had his video camera on his shoulder.
I love the photos he took of us when we were little kids because they are such classics. Yup, that’s my sister in her first communion dress in the photo below, with my brother and me also all dressed up for the occasion. Look at those bangs!
Of course, I dragged out the photo albums today because it’s been 2 years to the day since I wrote that “Please Pull Over” blog post about the day we lost him. As a father, he was one of those “larger than life” dads to me. I am thankful we had some sweet times together in his last few years of life. Thanks for the memories and all those photos, dad!