Last Footage of My Father

On October 5, 2006, my sister Cheryl and I visited my dad, my mom, and my nephew at the house I grew up in. I wanted to show them pictures of my trip to California, having returned just a few weeks before. I had my computer with me, because that's where all my pictures were. I showed my dad how I could take video, and immediately play it back, with my computer. He got a kick out of that. He was a civil engineer, and technology of this sort fascinated him. It befuddled him as well, because for years, I would get weekly calls asking me, one more time, how to program a VCR, duplicate a tape, or just turn a damn piece of equipment on.

The day after this video was taken, my dad broke his hip. He was gone sixteen days later. These are therefore the last images ever taken of my father.

I am grateful that I got to spend part of this day with him. How fortunate I was to capture this video of him and I only hours before he began a slow fade from this life. I miss him more than I can say. And I will always love him. In death as I did in life. He isn't physically here anymore, but that doesn't mean he's not still with me. I feel him today, as I do everyday. If I just go inside. And listen.