Here is a shot of our family on a ski trip we took to Red River, NM in, I think, 1975. You can see I am wearing the cool hand-tooled leather visor that I later left in Gary Gober's car when I went in the Army. I believe that I wore that hat almost daily when I was a High School Senior.... but maybe not.I actually turn up wearing the hat my mom has on, two or three years later in Moonpie. There is a shot where I am throwing a rock off a hill uop at UTK, and one where I have my Buck knife clenched firmly in my teeth.
And, you know, the whole thing -- with my dad dying and all -- is like... On the one hand I'm so angry at the universe for all the shit I've been going through over the past year or so. And then I think about something like this. How odd that I made the trip back to Red River this year. A place I was with my family, and later my friends. How fortuitous that we held a party on the evening of the 3rd to get together, ten hours before my dad died. It was like a going away party for him. I remember that I had not even wanted to celebrate the damn birthday to begin with (it's actually today -- how's that for sucky?) but just because it felt like celebrating wasn't the right word for it.
You did wear that visor 9 out of 10 days during 1975 and 1976. This photo is the Raab-Faber family I remember. Hip Gunther with his cowboy boots, Mary looking like, well...Mary. Jen just being cute (her official job) and Rick with his cool visor and sueade desert boots on.
ReplyDeleteI don't have an answer for why all the wierd shit happens to anyone...I just know that life WILL happen when you least expect it.You just continue to show up everyday for life and take what comes your way, the good and the bad. The beauty is, this thing called life happens to us all, we truley are not an island unto ourselves.
After 30-odd years of not seeing Gunther, we became 'friends' on Facebook, go figure. I'm glad you had the last day with your dad Rick, many people never do. Peace.