Nobody called him Gregory, except for my Mother once in awhile when she was perturbed or something was serious and commanded immediate attention. It is like nobody calls me Joshua, until – in my case – I am in some sort of trouble.
Dad was on a charity bike run for ALS yesterday. He himself has MS and loved his bikes. On the way home, to meet my wife, my Mom and myself at the end of the day, my Dad was killed somewhere near Middletown, RI. They tell me he did not suffer, but I would only really believe that kind of news if my Dad told me. I trust my Dad. Other people like to soften the blow. His friend Chris called me to tell me. Dad loved Chris, too. My wife got a chance to exchange “I love you’s” with Dad last night. She was like a daughter to him. Even when he forgot everything else, he remembered that she had an exam, Dr appt, or anything non-benign and would call to see how she was. He loved my Mom. Married for almost 30 years, caring for each other while he had MS and she is not well. He loved my brother Joe too. And there are more people. He had so many people he cared so deeply for.
Lara told him that she loved him that night before the bike run, and that he needed to be safe because we needed him. I just told him he better get home safe. I think he wanted to. I think on any other day, he probably would have been. It is surreal.
It’s no use going into more details or feelings, but I want to put it out into the cyberscape and more that this man was my hero and the finest man that I have ever known. I know I am not alone in thinking this. Everyone loved my Dad. And he loved people back. A tremendous loss for humankind in general.
I love you, Dad. Please rest. I’ll make sure everyone is okay, I promise. And you know I don’t break promises. You know that better than anyone, probably. I miss you already.
Your son and best friend,
Josh
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08.01.09 I had no idea this post would wind up being a sort of tribute to Dad and posted places as such. I would have put more effort into it and said a bit more or at least cleaned up the grammar. Still, I need to thank everyone for showing my family their support at Dad’s wake and funeral and even now, checking in with us. We all appreciate it very much and I am my father’s son. If you were a friend to him, you are a friend to me. Let me know if there is anything I can ever do for you. And if he didn’t like you, I probably know about it and I don’t need to get into that here. Dad won’t fade away.
My 3 favorite people - Mom, Dad @ 61 years old, and Lara (click for more photos of Dad and family)
[...] that at one point I was checking Twitter and found out that my friend Josh’s father had been involved in an accident on his bicycle and was killed. I immediently e-mailed josh to extend mine and Jills condolences, and let him know that next [...]