proteanme

I have learned two things today. The first is about the mysteries of life. And what I learned is that they involve a lot of phone calls. And paper work.  I always thought the great mysteries would involve something much more heroic and romantic. But apparently it’s more about figuring out who’s going to call what agency or office to track down what info. To some degree or another my family is going to be project managing my dad’s death. I am a good project manager.

The second thing I learned is that I will be getting to know my dad better in his death than I knew him in his life. Bittersweet. For sure. I learned today fifty people have already called my dad’s old boss because they want to find out if we are planning a service. I learned that there every Memorial day my dad went to Crown Hill cemetary to attend the veteran’s service and lay flowers on his cousin’s grave, the one who was like a brother to him, the one who died at Battle of the Bulge. I learned that when my dad’s best friend was sick and everyone else stopped coming around, my dad was there for his friend. He did things no one else would do for his friend. I learned my dad didn’t have a refridgerator in his house for a long time. Nothing shocking and all things I suspected. He was a nice guy. And he was one of a kind.

The thing is I’ve always intellectually understood my dad could be close, in his own way, to other people even if he couldn’t be close to us. I’ve never embraced it though. And now we’re about to be submerged. I’ve been on the periphery a couple times in my life of the phenomena that is my dad. Met some folks who were fascinated to meet me just because I was Truman’s daughter. I’ve been greeted with welcomes “no shit” and “I’ll be damned”.  Just never done it en mass.