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Family
I was informed my father died. This information didn’t come from my mother. He had been suffering for a moment, COPD, likely influenced by 40 years of 3 packs of cigarettes a day. I am told he died in his sleep, no distress. I am grateful for that. The last year was hard for him.
I don’t know what to say
He was 22 years Navy. E8? I am his only biological child. He adopted my mother’s sister’s son. My adopted brother is 5 years younger than I. I saw him last in 2012? I heard, through my father, he is doing well.
I recall visiting the Saratoga and walking across the deck with him. We were stationed in Florida. I remember liking Florida. I remember liking Michigan, when we lived in Ann Arbor, across the street from the Michelin tire. I remember going to the office with him in Detroit, where he was a recruiter. I wondered off. I returned 5 hours later to discover the entire Detroit police department had been seriously looking for me and I had no explanation where I had been. I simply went walking.
My father’s last two years of service were on the Enterprise. I didn’t get to walk on the Enterprise, but he was there when Star Trek IV: the Voyage Home shot some footage. He chose not to be in that shot. Damn it, I was mad.
