FOREVER IS A LONG TIME

My Dad was born on this day in 1925...he passed in 1997, but he really left this mortal coil in 1990.He had a stroke...a massive one.
I won't dwell on the years he spent impersonating produce, because that wasn't him.
I will however, share one story from those days, when a glimpse of who my father was popped out, quite unexpectedly.
I probably have told this story before, I can't really remember...I've slept since then.
After the 3 month coma and almost a year of rehab, coinciding with my mom's losing battle with cancer, the hospital decided they had done all they could do and my dad was relegated to a VA facility.
The center would/could not transport him from Austin to temple...my mom didn't drive and besides, she was busy fighting a battle with cancer...she was in hospital getting platelet transplants when I was driving my Dad to the hospital for evaluation.
So, there we are, in the waiting room with a multitude of other veterans and their families.
My Dad in a wheelchair, essentially non verbal, he looks at me and says "let's get the fuck out of here".
There was a desperation in his voice...like he knew it was the end of the line.
I almost rolled him out of there...but to where?
He couldn't go home...we couldn't run away...there was nowhere to go but where we were.
So I left my Dad in a hospital bed, surrounded by strangers in a strange place...crying.
It was the single most difficult thing I have ever done in my life...and I can still hear him asking...pleading, "let's get the fuck out of here".
And that was my Dad...he knew where he didn't belong, he was a free spirit, the kindest man you'd ever want to meet. He didn't belong in some hospital bed slowly wasting away. That stroke should have killed him
He was the best role model, because he taught me how to be a person, complete and fully realized.
So... he would be 79 years old today.
And I try to imagine him at that age, all old and wrinkly and grumpy sharing stories and anecdotes from a life well lived that no one really listens to, you know, cause it's just some old man rambling on.
I wish he was here to ramble...I would listen.