An Annual Tradition Marches On
I have been thinking about this post for a few weeks. Today is one of those milestone moments in your life that divides things between what happened before and what happened after in a most profound way. Today is the anniversary of my father's death. He died three months before I began my doctoral program and I realize how many things would have been different had he not. My dad was ill for almost a year but it wasn't anything that made sense and it wasn't anything they could ultimately fix. He died a week after my master's graduation. It was the last important moment in my life that he was around for and he was also in the hospital. I went to pick him up and take him home in my cap and gown because he wasn't strong enough to sit through the ceremony. Within a few days he was back in the hospital after ushering my brother off on a long planned vacation. My brother made it home the day before our father passed away. My dad had resigned himself to not being
