The Obit
As a teenager, I had always envisioned growing up being some type of reporter. Preferably, a sports reporter covering a baseball team. I took journalism classes from 7th to 12th grade and continued to take them as I started college. Eventually though, I steered (okay...more likely I veered) away from writing for a newspaper and headed down a path that has taken me today to the Training & Development world.
Now the first thing that I will write for my hometown newspaper will be my father's obituary.
I left the funeral home and started to drive back to my house in Orange. But before I had to make the decision to get on the 91 East, I decided instead to head back to my dad's duplex in Long Beach. It wasn't a split-second decision either. Long Beach had developed a gravitational pull that I could no longer resist.
One of the issues with the funeral home left unresolved was the obituary so I decided to use my dad's computer to write it.
I pulled up to the duplex and brushed the ghosts of memories away from me as I entered. Everything that I can remember happening to me in this house is now constantly exploding in my head like a fireworks show on the 4th of July.
I head back into his computer room. It was the bedroom that I shared with Number 2 until I was 6.
Powering up his computer, I noticed a letter Dr. Mike. Dr. Mike is a cardiac specialist whose last name starts with a K and then has every letter in the alphabet in it at least once. Hence, he goes by Dr. Mike.
The letter was from December of 2004 and is a summary of my dad's last check up 6 months ago. There's one line in the letter that hits me like a ton of bricks - "It was good to speak with you and hear that you are in such a good place in your life."
I still don't know if I should be happy that my dad was in a good place when he passed or bummed that he didn't get to enjoy that good place for a little longer.
I pulled up the web site of the paper that I was going to run the obit in. I wasn't really sure what I was going to write or how I was going to write it. We nevered covered obits in 12th grade Journalism.
I flashed back to what my high school teacher, Bernice Whiteleather, would have said to me - "VW, K.I.S.S. - Keep it simple, stupid!"
In the end, that's exactly what I did. I wrote who he was, when he was born, when he died, what he did in life, and who he left behind.
It seemed like I had only been there for a few minutes but when I checked the clock on the computer, I had been there for almost 3 hours. I needed to get back home. My Mom had been watching the Chicken all day and she needed to get back home to San Diego.
The Chicken had been a source of great comfort but I really wanted somebody there that I could talk to tonight.
I'm sure that I'm not going to be the best company but how do you tell your family and friends that you don't want to be alone?
VW
Now the first thing that I will write for my hometown newspaper will be my father's obituary.
I left the funeral home and started to drive back to my house in Orange. But before I had to make the decision to get on the 91 East, I decided instead to head back to my dad's duplex in Long Beach. It wasn't a split-second decision either. Long Beach had developed a gravitational pull that I could no longer resist.
One of the issues with the funeral home left unresolved was the obituary so I decided to use my dad's computer to write it.
I pulled up to the duplex and brushed the ghosts of memories away from me as I entered. Everything that I can remember happening to me in this house is now constantly exploding in my head like a fireworks show on the 4th of July.
I head back into his computer room. It was the bedroom that I shared with Number 2 until I was 6.
Powering up his computer, I noticed a letter Dr. Mike. Dr. Mike is a cardiac specialist whose last name starts with a K and then has every letter in the alphabet in it at least once. Hence, he goes by Dr. Mike.
The letter was from December of 2004 and is a summary of my dad's last check up 6 months ago. There's one line in the letter that hits me like a ton of bricks - "It was good to speak with you and hear that you are in such a good place in your life."
I still don't know if I should be happy that my dad was in a good place when he passed or bummed that he didn't get to enjoy that good place for a little longer.
I pulled up the web site of the paper that I was going to run the obit in. I wasn't really sure what I was going to write or how I was going to write it. We nevered covered obits in 12th grade Journalism.
I flashed back to what my high school teacher, Bernice Whiteleather, would have said to me - "VW, K.I.S.S. - Keep it simple, stupid!"
In the end, that's exactly what I did. I wrote who he was, when he was born, when he died, what he did in life, and who he left behind.
It seemed like I had only been there for a few minutes but when I checked the clock on the computer, I had been there for almost 3 hours. I needed to get back home. My Mom had been watching the Chicken all day and she needed to get back home to San Diego.
The Chicken had been a source of great comfort but I really wanted somebody there that I could talk to tonight.
I'm sure that I'm not going to be the best company but how do you tell your family and friends that you don't want to be alone?
VW
posted by JVW at 7:09 PM
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