Remembering Dad

October 29 was the seven year anniversary of Dad's passing.

I suppose most people are biased to think that their own Dad is a great man. I could go on with my own version at length, but a handful of things stand out:

- When I was about four, he gave up a promising career in business to find a job closer to home so that he could spend more time with us.

- In my first year of T-ball, Dad noticed that my coach was pretty half-hearted about the job, often lying down in the outfield while instructing us. So the next year, and every year afterward, Dad coached us. He did the same thing with soccer, and what made that more impressive to me is that he had never played it in his life.

- During a breakup with a girlfriend, he offered to drive down to college a couple of hours away to talk about it.

- When he was diagnosed with inoperable liver cancer, he tried every ravaging experimental treatment they could find. As his weight dropped to nearly half, as the mere act of standing up became intensely painful, and as he reached the point where he was too weak to even walk, he continued to work at the high school even though at 66 he could have already been retired. "I'm not going to just give up," he said. Since he outlasted a 6 month diagnosis by 12 more months, I'd say he still managed to win.

As devoted and tireless as Dad was, I probably shouldn't have been surprised when over 1,000 people showed up at his visitation and funeral. When I strive to become "Mr. Positivity" I often count my blessings as a way to set aside negative feelings. And it'd also be good to remember Dad.