Dad

Dad peacefully left us for Glory two years ago on July 5, 2024. I miss him. Dad and Mom enjoyed coming to NYC to visit us, and I am so thankful they came as often as they did.

There are so many memories. In the beginning, Mom complained about how fast Dad walked. It was hard to keep up with him. Who would have thought how his steps would slow. I remember him carrying the suitcase with Kansas steaks in it himself from the Q70 airport bus to our apartment, a half mile away.

A shining moment came the last time folks were here when him and Mom rode the 7 train by themselves to have a Guatamalan lunch. Afterward, they bought apple pies at McDonald’s, and they found a park to eat them in – one that I didn’t know about. It was their 60th wedding anniversary. We celebrated that evening with the mission staff. (I believe it was Todd and Carmen, Galen and Julie, and the four young men.) We picnicked the evening before at Forest Park, and Laurence grilled brisket for the celebration while we ate supper. He was almost finished when a rain shower came up. We quickly packed and caught the bus home. It was a drippy walk to the bus stop.

That time, I overheard Mom exclaim to Dad, as they looked in amazement around the Oculus, “Who would have thought we’d spend our 60th anniversary here.” It was a special time for us too!

One time the bus we were on with folks broke down in Beach Channel after we’d been to the Atlantic Ocean. It was a jolly experience, kinda like the time we boarded a bus after being at the Jamaica Wildlife Refuge, and the driver joked, “Get on you ole birders you.”

I remember when people started offering folks a seat on the train out of respect for the elderly, and when folks could ride for half price because they were over 65. I never thought that someday we’d be the seniors in this city and how Dad would be gone to another City.

Dad shook with laughter at the street performers. It seems to me that was during one of the first times folks came here. These guys were displaying their antics while we waited for a ferry to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

In those first times of folks coming, we did all the touristy things, and I have a special memory of sitting beside the lake in Central Park with them. In the later years, we moved on to showing them the places we’d discovered during our years of living here. Various times after spending a few days here, we’d rent a car and go out of town to places like Vermont, New Hampshire, Niagara Falls, Bear Mountain, etc. We stayed together in an old cabin in Saranac, NY, where I remember folks decided it was their turn to make supper, and they grilled hotdogs. Dad liked caves, and we were with him when he discovered his favorite one, which was Luray Caverns in Virginia.

So many memories. Dad has moved on. Someday we will too. Berniece