Saying Goodbye....

Geez, it's been over a month since I had time to sit down and add a new post here. Lately I have felt like I jumped on a carnival ride that on second thought wasn't such a good idea.....let me try and explain

My last post was just before the big Walldog event in Pontiac, Il. Not to take away anything from any other past event but Pontiac was an incredible meet. The locals were great. The host family (the Diaz Gang) are the best folks....Ever. We had many great food options every day. Music and festivities in the evening. The temps were as high as the spirited Letterhead painting crew. We really painted up the town on this one. It was a great event all around.

A thousand little things have happened over the past month and a few rather huge ones also. Shortly before the Walldog event, my Father had major surgery and only had a 50/50 chance of survival. He did make it through the surgery and was put into an induced coma during the week of the Walldog event. It was suggested by many friends that I continue on with the meet (as planned for over a year) and spend time with my Letterhead friends who are like family to me! It was very good medicine to be in the company of such wonderful caring and fun people. It really helped me out and my Father was not able to receive visitors until the following week, so off I went.

After the event, I returned to my home town up North (300 miles from where I live now) for the 4th of July weekend hoping that my Father's health had made a turn for the better. Unfortunately the opposite was true. His condition had deteriorated rapidly when I visited him on the 3rd of July. He was not doing well at all. The morning of the 4th of July, my daughter called me and said I should come say my goodbyes because they were not sure how much longer he could hang on. So I spent 25 hours by his bedside at the hospital saying goodbye, and yet he hung on.

On my return trip to Milwaukee on the evening of the 5th of July I received the call saying my Dad had passed away just after 9pm. We had his memorial service on Thursday the 9th of July with military honors, and many friends and extended family members showed up to say goodbye.

Now I had been planning on closing on my house on July 10th for six weeks or so. So instead of canceling until who knows when, I drove the 300 miles back to MIlwaukee and managed to make the meeting in the late afternoon. I'm sure my dad would not have wanted me to make a big deal out of it, that's just the way he was.

I closed on the house on July 10th and finally moved in on the 25th of July. I do have several renovation stories related to the move in but first i wanted to finish this post with a story about my Dad and mural painting.....

Back in the Summer of 2000, I painted my first real solo mural for some good friends of mine on their barn in Northern Wisconsin. The barn happened to be close to my home town and my Dad was in the area and drove out many days to see how I was progressing. Each day he would usually pull up a chair and sit and watch for a while. The mural was only 28' to the top but he made many comments about the height we were working at. Things like...."back in the navy (WWII) I could hang off the side of a ship but you couldn't get me up there now".

Well, for some reason my Dad really thought that mural was something special. Near the end of the project he told me..."Nice work Son, I'm proud of you". Heck, I was just doing what I love to do. Slinging paint in the hot summer sun, high up in the air!







When one of my dear Letterhead friends suggested I go on down to the Pontiac mural event, have some fun and dedicate the mural to my Dad, that's just what I did. I found a way to put his name on the mural that would not take away from the historic nature of the original theme. Growing up, I heard my Dad tell many stories about the Model T and Model A that he had. So, while I was painting the Model T car on the mural it came to me that I could put my Dad's initials and birth year on the license plate.





That's all for now. I shall return with my adventures in home renovation sometime soon I hope. It's all those little things that catch you off guard right?

Goodbye Dad.....My Heart Goes With you!