It's tough, I know. I have very little reason to go back to my home town
anymore. The people I want to see usually make it up here every now and again.
So I stay away.
--Bob
On Mar 30, 2013, at 12:19 AM, Paul Braun wrote:
> I was down with my dad again from Tuesday through Thursday of this week.
>
> I managed to get an assortment of photos, which you can find in the
> gallery: http://tinyurl.com/pbraun As someone recently pointed out, as
> soon as you're on my main page, pop open the sidebar and click on
> "recent updates" and you can see the shiny new pix without me having to
> link to all of them here.
>
> As dad's cancer progresses, I can definitely see him getting weaker and
> weaker. This week we all decided that he will move out to central
> Missouri and live with my brother and his family, something that will
> probably happen within the month. My wife and I simply don't have space
> for him, plus my wife is completely stressed out having to take care of
> her 91-year-old mother who lives up by us. We had to put her into
> assisted living, and if the VA keeps jerking us around, it will deplete
> every last penny we have. You'd think the widow of a WWII vet wouldn't
> have to fight so hard to get the housing benefits she's entitled to, but
> you'd be wrong. At least for Dad, living out with my brother, it's a
> town very much like Steeleville (where I grew up), and he'll be
> surrounded by the grandkids in his final days. (My wife and I never had
> kids). He's lived a little more than half his life in Steeleville (we
> moved from Chicago in 1972.) I was truly hoping that he'd get to live
> out the rest of his days there, but life just isn't going to work out
> that way.
>
> As I drove around town, a sense of sadness set in. Partially because of
> the inevitability that Dad is losing to cancer, but also because I
> realized that once he moved and the house was sold, that I really
> wouldn't have a reason to go back there. I really only have one friend
> left back there, and now that he and his wife are both retired, they are
> trying to travel a lot. Plus, Steeleville really isn't close to
> anything (it's 70min away from St. Louis), and my HS reunions are always
> on the 4th of July, when I can't get away.
>
> I will probably be going back one more time, two at the most. I plan on
> getting some more photos of things and places that are still left from
> my childhood before I say goodbye and close the door on that part of my
> life.
>
> Wow. Did I really just dump all of that baggage on you guys? Sorry...
>
> Enjoy the photos. C&C always encouraged.
>
> ----
>
> Paul Braun Certified Music Junkie
> Valparaiso, IN
>
> "It's such a fine line between stupid, and clever." - David St. Hubbins
> "Music washes from the soul the dust of everyday life" - Harlan Howard
> --
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