The last week has been pretty rough. My two brothers have been busy taking over my father's company, and I have been busy at home arranging the memorial. All last week, I was in charge of calling folks to let them know what has happened, and boy is that a tough job. Many people already knew via the grapevine, but many did not. It is a strange and ugly thing to call someone in the middle of their day and give them such horrible news. I hated it, but felt like I had to be the one to do it... my brothers were so busy, and my mom and sister just don't have the stomach for it. We found a nice, non-religious place to hold the service, which was Saturday. Lots of people who were close to Norm spoke about him with great love and energy. I now know that it's really hard to watch grizzled old men cry, it just breaks me up terribly. Ethan spoke very well, and I also told some really funny stories about my dad and mom when they were younger, the whole room was laughing hard, that felt good. The best part was that the stories were all true. One good thing about the ceremony was that a LOT of my and Reba's friends came to show support, man that really felt good. Having people around you that love and support you is the best thing in the world, and I feel so lucky to have that here and in Oxford as well. It's a really cool feeling, especially in the midst of such a shitty circumstance. Afterwards, we all got totally loaded in the bar, something my dad would have certainly approved of. Today was the "day after" and my brothers and I are back to sorting out my family's business matters, which is absolutely no fun whatsoever. My cousins who had come out for the ceremony went back to their homes in LA and Massachusetts, and Reba and I are staying in Sarah's Capitol Hill apartment while she's out of town. We're upstairs from a bar with a cute little balcony. It's secluded enough and the weather is nice enough that I'm typing out here now (midnight), sitting in my underwear! So, there's a little bit of lightness in an otherwise dark week. Tomorrow, it's lawyers and phone calls. Sigh. Here are some cool photos of my dad doing stuff he really dug.
piloting his sailboat, the warlock
piloting his fan boat down in cedar key, florida
together with the whole family at Aubry's wedding
the warlock at the weekly duck dodge boat race, Norm is always pilot, captain and general overlord of his boat
more duck dodge
giving Aubry away at her wedding
still skiing at 66, bad knees, bad back and all!
national honor society in 1958... he's in the middle. Note that he's surrounded by girls, just the way he liked it!
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3 comments:
First off, thanks for not including the cell cam pic of you sitting in your underwear blogging.
Secondly.. keep on rockin man, don't know how your doing it, but keep on keepin on..
Lastly, of course.. if there is anything June and I can do.. she is still a practicing attorney in Seattle :-)
Ean, I'm so very sorry to hear about your dad. My thoughts are with you and your family.
Dori Johnson
Boy, i guess I missed this era of posts...
Your dad was a hell of a guy. Even though I only met him a few times (and one of those times I was out of my gourd on LSD), he made a big impression on me. A lot of that impression was that you can have money and still be an ass-kicking cool dude. Your dad had true grit, and I know there are a lot of people out there who are better off for having known him.
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