My Final Happy Father's Day Was Four Years Ago Today

I did not know it at the time, but four years ago today I had my last all you can eat buffet with my dear ol' dad. Dad lasted on this mortal coil less than two weeks after the 2017 version of Father's Day.

I blogged about that Father's Day McDonald's buffet in Dad's Father's Day McDonald's Buffet With Uncle Mooch & Tillie, part of which is screen capped above.

I also did not know at the time that that month of June was the start of several years of the most unsettling years I remember being unsettled by.

When I learned dad was in bad shape I quickly made arrangements to go to Arizona.

Via driving solo.

My vehicle came to a halt a few miles east of Flagstaff.  An hour or so later a tow truck arrived delivering me to a repair shop. Five hours later, with a new fuel pump, I was back on the road, arriving at my little brother's in Scottsdale shortly before dark.

The next day I called my mom to say I'd be there in about an hour. My Favorite Nephew Jeremy was about to take mom to see dad. Mom said they would wait for me. I'd only been to mom and dad's place in Sun Lakes a couple times, and never under my own navigation. In other words, I got lost. Had to call so Jeremy could get me back on track to find Riggs Road.

Little did I know then that over the following years I would be returning to Arizona so many times finding Riggs Road became second nature, as did multiple other locations in the Phoenix metro zone.

I stayed in Arizona for about three weeks, with record breaking HEAT. I was dreading the return to Texas drive, fearing another breakdown. But, I made it back without incident, other than not being able to find a motel with a vacancy when I got to West Texas. Had I known such was the case I would have overnighted in El Paso. 

I made it back to Wichita Falls early the next morning. About a month later I found myself flying out of Wichita Falls for the first time. That was an adventure, flying a little plane to DFW International.

Little did I know, at the time, that this would be the first of multiple times flying out of Wichita Falls over the next two plus years.

That first time I flew out of here it was to Washington, where David, Theo and Ruby picked me up at Sea-Tac, along with their mother, my Favorite Little Sister, Michele. This was my first real happy moment in weeks. The first of many happy moments over the next week in Washington, including three days up north, at Birch Bay, delivering dad to his final resting place in the Dutch section of Lynden's Monumenta Cemetery

Instead of flying directly back to Texas I flew to Arizona for a week to see mom. That was in mid August of 2017. Late January of 2018 I flew directly to Arizona for the first of many times, the last time was in July of 2019.

Anyway, enough of this reminiscing about these past four unsettling years, losing both mom and dad. The ongoing Trump nightmare, topped off by the COVID nightmare. Methinks happier times are soon here again.

I certainly hope so...