Happy New Year!

Mind how you go..

Hope you all had a decent Christmas season! As for us it was a time to meet in the place where my dad felt most at home, with my mom, brother and youngest son, in Sublimity, Oregon. The five of us who gathered around dad in the hospice, at various times, talking to him, playing his favorite jazz and squeezing his hands. It’s a “thing” now to gather at Christmas and this year we celebrated his life on his birthday, December 29th.

We had tons of rain and ice (and maybe a bad ice accident - but my brother will be okay thank God), and overall we were blessed with warmth, food and much reflection.

Two years ago, New Years Day, my dad entered heaven at 8 a.m. He had put up a real good fight through the holidays and a few days before he passed, one of the hospice nurses, with tears in her eyes, said that dad told her he was “trying to be a brave soldier.” She was walking him to the bathroom and it was the last time before he couldn’t get out of bed. That really hit mom and I hard. Some of you know from reading my stories Dad grew up in WW2 England. Back then it was just a common thing to say, “be a brave soldier,” to your kids. Dad had always braved pain from the time he was eleven and he showed tremendous courage to the bitter end.

In looking back over this past year one of the things we did to honor dad was to plant an apple tree in his backyard and create a stone to put under it reminding us of something he consistently said to us. Whenever leaving the house or going somewhere dad would say “mind how you go.” For me, it was an incredible sense of security and I didn’t realize it until he was gone. He was the only man in my life that mapped my route, cared to hear when I got there and made me think about taking good care along the way. The apple tree was mom’s idea because as a young boy dad would climb the apple tree in the family garden when he was scared.

Standing outside in the rain, looking at the stone I thought what an appropriate wish for us in 2023.

Mind how you go…

Peace be with you.

P.S. We are heading back to California tomorrow and bringing my adorable 86 year old mom with us for a month. It is my hope to do a podcast with her next.. Stay tuned! Mom still has her accent and like I said, she’s adorable (and very wise) :)

Mom & I on Dad’s birthday, December 29th, at Mount Angel Abbey. Dad would often drive here alone and refresh his soul walking around.