I've seen or heard people do this in the past, but I don't think I've really experienced it at this level. "The first time since..."
This is my first Father's day since I lost my dad.
I think of him a lot. I miss him a lot. I cry a lot. More than people know. I want him back.
I'm scared of losing this blog about everything that is my family and started with being scared about losing my dad all those years ago. I came here looking for something. I think it was a picture, but now I'm just rambling on and on about things.
I love you dad.
I will always love Larry - Dad
I've put this off for over a month. I really have no idea what to say.
I started this blog over 10 years ago to provide people updates on my Dad and how his battle with cancer was going. Assume that every sentence that I type here is paused for me to fight back my tears. Larry is gone. My father, my role model, one of the top people I had on the entire planet died on September 19th, 2019.
I made a vow to myself when I started this blog to remember to tell everyone about him and to tell him that I loved him every chance I could. Larry wasn't much of a "I love you" kind of guy. He was much more like me. A, let me show you how much I love you by washing your car, or offering to drive you to the store, type. He was also polite, so every time I told him I loved him, he would repeat it back. We did this for the past 10 years. I spent some of his last days with him and I knew that I didn't have very many chances left. I slipped some extras in when I could. I think he knew.
At this point I still can't get through a Beatles song without getting upset. There are a thousand country songs that will cause the same thing. There is a song that recently became a hit that started playing around the time Dad was diagnosed again with cancer. I just recently made it through that one. I have no idea how.
Ok. Less rambling.
I love you dad. I will do my best to be the husband, father, and man you were. I will tell my people that I love them and I will wash their cars. I miss you.
Your son,
Jon
Even though I'm leaving
I started this blog over 10 years ago to provide people updates on my Dad and how his battle with cancer was going. Assume that every sentence that I type here is paused for me to fight back my tears. Larry is gone. My father, my role model, one of the top people I had on the entire planet died on September 19th, 2019.
I made a vow to myself when I started this blog to remember to tell everyone about him and to tell him that I loved him every chance I could. Larry wasn't much of a "I love you" kind of guy. He was much more like me. A, let me show you how much I love you by washing your car, or offering to drive you to the store, type. He was also polite, so every time I told him I loved him, he would repeat it back. We did this for the past 10 years. I spent some of his last days with him and I knew that I didn't have very many chances left. I slipped some extras in when I could. I think he knew.
At this point I still can't get through a Beatles song without getting upset. There are a thousand country songs that will cause the same thing. There is a song that recently became a hit that started playing around the time Dad was diagnosed again with cancer. I just recently made it through that one. I have no idea how.
Ok. Less rambling.
I love you dad. I will do my best to be the husband, father, and man you were. I will tell my people that I love them and I will wash their cars. I miss you.
Your son,
Jon
Even though I'm leaving
Family photo time
So it seems we managed to get one of these taken in some consecutive years. I would be remiss if I didn't post it here.... since this blog lives in perpetuity, or until I stop paying for it.
Obligatory 2018 entry...
Hilarious that I post once a year about posting more often. I've sifted through bookmarks of blogs I've followed over the years and found that most of them are now offline. I guess the blog isn't the cool kid on the block any more.
This will give you some perspective of how long this blog has been limping along.
Love both of these guys. Hard to believe this all started when the Larry part of this duo was battling a life threatening disease. Lucky to have both of them.
Catch up - November 2015 - A trip that will live in infamy...
So back to the travel stories...
In 2015 we (Jen) finally talked my parents into travelling with us. "We are travel experts" Famous last words.
I cannot even begin to do this story justice 14 months later, but don't ask Larry about it, he has blocked it from his memory. He will tell you that Naples is the New Jersey of Europe if you push him.
Here's how it was supposed to go down. Two flights. One from St. Louis, one from the Quad Cities, meeting in Chicago for a glorious start to a quick trip to Barcelona and a cruise of the Med. It went bad right away. The flight out of Moline was delayed and Chicago was getting icy. We arrived from Saint Louis with no issues. We're experts remember? Rather than type the whole thing out let me see if a list of bullet points can suffice.
Larry and Wilma have spent 72 hours (or more) flying and waiting in various airports, hotels and cabs, all without any luggage. They arrive in Naples minus 2 days of our cruise in the only clothes they've had for 3 days. They will NEVER go beyond the borders of the U.S. again.
Here are some eventual highlights:
In 2015 we (Jen) finally talked my parents into travelling with us. "We are travel experts" Famous last words.
I cannot even begin to do this story justice 14 months later, but don't ask Larry about it, he has blocked it from his memory. He will tell you that Naples is the New Jersey of Europe if you push him.
Here's how it was supposed to go down. Two flights. One from St. Louis, one from the Quad Cities, meeting in Chicago for a glorious start to a quick trip to Barcelona and a cruise of the Med. It went bad right away. The flight out of Moline was delayed and Chicago was getting icy. We arrived from Saint Louis with no issues. We're experts remember? Rather than type the whole thing out let me see if a list of bullet points can suffice.
- Missed flight out of Chicago for London. (We took the flight since we had no idea what was going to happen)
- Offered a flight out of Miami and luggage was handed over.
- Flight to Miami was delayed, so back to the terminal.
- New flight to London booked, but luggage already headed to Miami.
- Late to London, flight to Barcelona missed..... Cruise start also missed.
- Overnight in London to catch another flight to Naples, Italy to catch up with us.
- Overnight stay in Naples starts with a late night rainy cab ride to a hotel that the cab driver had never heard of .... and he only really spoke Italian.
Larry and Wilma have spent 72 hours (or more) flying and waiting in various airports, hotels and cabs, all without any luggage. They arrive in Naples minus 2 days of our cruise in the only clothes they've had for 3 days. They will NEVER go beyond the borders of the U.S. again.
Here are some eventual highlights:
The Vatican - We took a whirlwind tour of Rome. Our last cab had us digging furiously for Euros.
The Trevi fountain - of course Sam found ice cream across the street and I think that was the highlight for him.
A small sandwich shop around the corner from the Tower of Pisa.
Palma, Majorca Cathedral
Pisa
An amazing dinner for Jen's birthday - Ask Larry about this ham dinner.
Family photo
You wouldn't believe what a chore it was to get this picture. The camera is propped up on the inside of a lampshade. This is picture #8 due to ... well see this next one.
You can't make it die....
This is the blog that really wants to fade into oblivion, but since I own a calendar and have it listed as a "favorite"....it simply won't go.
First person to comment or send me an e-mail will receive a gift in the mail from me.
This paragraph is intended to disguise the above offer. Maybe you won't see it because there is more writing and you simply don't have time. More likely I will receive a request from a Liberian king for compensation.
Happy 2016!!
First person to comment or send me an e-mail will receive a gift in the mail from me.
This paragraph is intended to disguise the above offer. Maybe you won't see it because there is more writing and you simply don't have time. More likely I will receive a request from a Liberian king for compensation.
Happy 2016!!
2015
- New house in St. Louis
- Broken arm = Sam
- Blog entry = Complete
- Check engine light on 2008 Elantra = still on
Seriously this seems to be the update so far. More later. No really.
Killing time
I’m not really sure what has happened over time with this blog. What I’m supposed to do with it? How often? I realized that it is almost 2015 and haven’t typed a single word here his year. I also realize that I’m typing into the wind since no one will be reading this.
The blog that started as an “Oh my god my dad is sick” tracking tool, morphed into a travel brochure for dummies, and now…..not sure. My dad is still chugging along. We are still travelling. I guess at some point I will be given a sign.
I’ll probably post some events from 2014 that happened, so that I have a more definitive “over time” accounting of things. Let me know if you read this.
Skip to my Lou
Since I have this title I will also skip the excuses for not writing here.
An observation about St. Louis, and may this is true of other cities, they are event crazy. Every weekend it’s something. “Taste of St. Louis”, “Lou-fest”, Fair St. Louis”. Don’t get me wrong this stuff is great, the problem is that these things shut down the city. If you’ve ever been to St. Louis you know that there are like 3 East-West streets that are the main thoroughfares and if they shut one down you have to use the old underground railroad tunnels to make it to your destination. One of the other favorite city events is also the “run”. 5K – 10K, Fun run, Girls on the run, Run for the border, you get the drift. These also close down the roads. Here’s a thought. Designate one street for this stuff, close it year round, and make it a special celebration once a year and let people drive on it or across it. That would be more interesting that navigating the “which road is closed this week” debacle. I’d love to also get a list of the parades they have here because I’m pretty sure they are not using the standard list of holidays. I support one parade and one parade only…see below. (Hint for Cubs fans: It’s a World Series parade – wasn’t sure if cameras had been invented since your last one.)
Yes I’m writing this because the streets were shutdown again this morning…WTH holiday is September 22nd?
2013
I was searching for a picture in the vast archive of pictures that is the Carroll family over the years and found that I hadn’t posted anything in 2013. I’ve made promises to post new and interesting stuff here time and time again and can’t seem to get the ball rolling. Maybe this will get me started?
Looking forward to a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Bill this month. I’m not sure if either of them have been to St. Louis, but we’re going to give them the dime tour.
Possible posts for the future? (This also might spur me to follow through)
- Loft living in St. Louis. I’m fascinated by the newest renovation down the street.
- Food? Maybe a visit inside of the Steve’s Dogs franchise?
- Baseball
- Excited about the Riverfront bike trail…..gotta get out and find it now.
More soon…seriously. I promise.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)