GreatRidge Station

I’m taking a few more days away from my blog so that I can work on data analysis for my dissertation. I hope to be back to GreatRidge Station around June 19.

Well. My dad passed away early in the morning on May 6. The obituary is here (3/4 of the way down the page). Curiously, my maternal grandfather died the same date, 24 years ago–my Mom says that gives her only one date to hate. Even in a time of trial, she has managed to keep her faith and her sense of humor.

The funeral was a wonderful, joyful celebration of a life well lived. I’m thankful that over the past 20 years or so, I got to know my dad for the amazing man of God that he is.

About a week before he died, he passed the baton to me. He said:

Don’t ever forget me, Sam. I’ll never forget you. It was a joy to raise you and it’s a privilege to know you. You’ve been an inspiration to me. I don’t have the vocabulary to express how much I love you.

My guess is that 98.4371% of North American men never receive such a blessing from their dads. It is an incredible gift.

Since that day at the end of April, I’ve seen things change in startling ways–terrifying ways. Since the funeral, I’ve had no less than 5 people come up to me and say “You are the patriarch now.” A couple of these people were family members, but the rest were people from my dad’s work or from the church where I grew up. To paraphrase Orv: I don’t have the vocabulary to express how humbling and terrifying that is. I believe, however, that it is a calling.

I’ll be back with more after I finish playing catch up with all the things that have been on hold for the past 3 weeks or so. Thanks for your patience. Thanks very kindly.

At this moment, my dad is 150 miles away, and in the process of dying.

I hope you’ll pardon my sporadic writing and lengthy absences from posting to this blog. While leadership is important, family and that web of relationships take up a more prominent role right now.

So, I ask that you keep me and my family in your prayers.