Comparison

Today I walked down to Radio Shack and picked up a USB cord that would fit my dad's camera. His camera contained pictures of his trip to California, and the only pictures I have taken of my dad after his stroke. In essence, they are the last pictures taken of my dad. I put it off for a long time, making sure I would be ready to look at them. Eventually, the camera got packed when I moved, and I didn't have a reason to dig it out until I needed to go through boxes to find my dad's 2008 tax return. Anyway, the first three pictures are taken of him June 2008, the last time I saw him before his stroke that December. We went to the Thanksgiving Point and the Salt Lake City observatory. It was Steve's first trip to Utah, we had to show him around.

I hated that beard. Unfortunately, he died with it.

This is what my dad would have looked like if he could walk on Mars.

Want to watch Jurassic Park, anyone?

The next few pictures were taken of my dad after the stroke, about a year later (I think if was May 2009), so also about 5 months before he killed himself.

I think the difference is obvious. On one picture, Steve asked me who were were looking at. He didn't believe it was my dad.


While digging through boxes, I also found audio recording of my grandma's funeral in October 2004. That's precious enough, but my dad read a poem during the service that he wrote for her. I have a recording of my dad's voice! It's not very good, and he sounds sad and distractued (understandably), but it's better than nothing. It's amazing the little things we miss when someone is gone.

Just thought I would share.

Love you, Dad!