“Love them when they are here and miss them when they are gone” Jim Campisano said that to me once when we were talking about the death of our parents.
This entire last week I have been on vacation; all five of my parents children (yes I said five) flew or drove into town from various parts of the country. One particular evening all five of us were sitting under the shade tree conversing with our parents when my father brings up the topic of his death. Lately he has been having some severe medical problems and is currently on a temporary leave of absence from his job. The doctors found some tumors in him and are trying to figure out what they are and when to operate. During our conversation he appointed one of my sisters the executor of his will then told me I would have his ‘02 F-250 4X4 and his entire tool collection (which is considerable). I told him sure I would love to have his stuff, but I really don’t want them under those conditions.
I’m looking forward to the old guy beating his health issues and living for a long, long time. I need his help when it comes to custom building a wood bed for my ’58 Apache and other various wood working projects.
My dad, he is the guy that is responsible for my love of the American automobile. It is he that played a major role in my introduction to muscle cars. Of course he has always been a Ford guy, but he is not so dyed in the wool about it as he used to be. Not only is he responsible for my love of the American automobile he just may be responsible for my love of photography as well. All the slide film and B&W shots he took in Vietnam, Thailand, Japan, Lions Drag Strip and any other place he found himself have been an influence on me as well. I recently raided his collection and took all his photos he took at Lions Drag Strip, I’m keeping them, they are historic photos now.
If any of you reading this have been waiting till you have time to get involved in any particular project with your Pop’s don’t wait, do it now. I’m going to start right away on building a bed for my Apache truck and have my Dad by my side helping me every step of the way.