Thread Drift

[Helene2013]

My deepest sympathies to the loss of your brother.

And Crankin, hugs to you too.

[Crankin]

Thanks. After the initial shock of it, I think my dad is doing ok with what is happening. He's been a denier all of his life, and he can't deny this. My younger son and his wife went to see him Sunday, which was good. They used to live in San Diego, not too far from him, but now they live near LA, so my son just doesn't see him that often anymore.
Frankly, I am more worried that I will never see my brother again, once my dad is gone. We actually have a lot in common, despite the age difference and the fact that his life was vastly different than mine, and he did not get the better side of things. Nothing horrible, but my family's financial circumstances changed greatly while he was growing up. I ignored all of it, since I was already on my own, but it did affect him.

[Crankin]

Yes, I suppose you could call my dad a character. Both of my parents were slightly unconventional for their time, when I think of it. One of my dad's fondest dreams was to visit back in Boston, with a cowboy hat and bolo tie on, when he got off of the plane. He did get to do this one year, when he came to join my mom and brother, who went to the Cape every year with my mom's family, after they moved to Az, and later, California. Unfortunately, when the shoe manufacturing business went south (literally) and then overseas, our familys' business closed. My dad worked for several years in the wholesale food business in Phoenix, which was great fun, in that I often got to go to restaurant openings, at a time when I couldn't afford to eat in any of them! But, once they moved to San Diego, which they loved, things were really bad for them, with a few good years in between. Although it was awesome to have family in San Diego when I lived in AZ, so I could escape the heat, in retrospect, they picked up and moved really quickly, when my dad lost his job in Az. If they had waited a little bit, even, I think things may have been different.

[redrhodie]

Thank you all for the support. I really appreciate the kind words.

[SheFly]

Red - so sorry to read about the loss of your brother. Losing brothers is hard, regardless. Thinking of you.

Crankin - sorry to read about your dad. I do hope that you and your brother manage to maintain a relationship. You don't realize how important it is until, one day, it isn't there anymore.

Hugs to all.

SheFly

[snapdragen]

Oh my goodness. I just nuked a spammer that had 172 moderated threads on the forum! Have I told you how much Jeff and Susan rock, they added a really cool feature for the Mods called Spam O Matic. It's awesome, and stops sooooo many nasty spams from ever going public.

[emily_in_nc]

{{{{{Red}}}}}}} & {{{{{{Crankin}}}}}}}}

We just spent 10 days with DH's parents, who are, somewhat amazingly, both still alive in their mid-80s and married for 62 years. Dad is on 17 medications but is in remarkably good health, considering. He's frazzled, though, and tired a lot, because he's having to take care of Mom, who has dementia (they think vascular rather than Alzheimer's, but it's still bad). Glad we could be there and help them in their yard, on Dad's computer, and around the house, plus recycling load after load of junk mail and magazines that build up between our visits as Mom throws nothing away, and has no filter on what is important to save vs. not important. We found checks and cash mixed in with sweepstakes entries, charity appeals, and other junk.

Families are tough.