I received an email today from a dear friend of mine. Her step-father peacefully passed away this morning in the loving arms of his wife.I used to live with this family. helped around the house and with Slade. He had Parkinson's and was not very mobile.
In Slade's honor, I'd like to write some memories that are forever burned in my heart, and now also into the trappings of the World Wide Web.
My memories of Slade:
He loved his wife.
He was always so proud of his grandson.
He really REALLY liked chocolate.
He also liked gingersnap cookies. I used to hate gingersnaps but since I spent time with Slade, they have risen to my favorite cookie zone, second only to oatmeal-raisin.
He forgot my name a lot and used to call me Josie. It was cute, always made me smile.
The man was a genius.
He was witty and would crack a joke out of nowhere leaving everyone rolling.
He loved the sunshine.
He enjoyed history. We spent an entire afternoon once watching 'Sparticus' on the History Channel. It came on again the following week and what did we do? We watched it again.
I watched more news shows with Slade than I have in the rest of my life all together. Our favorite was Glenn Beck who is like a columnist, but on television.
He taught me about Nascar. I never thought I could watch cars drive in circles for hours, but with Slade it was tolerable.
He liked the feeling of having his hair brushed.
His laugh was jovial and contagious.
Whenever I pushed his wheelchair, since I'm from Alaska, he would yell out, "Mush! Mush!" as if he were driving a dog team.
He was very hard-shelled regarding having pets. However, one day he opened up and told me about a dog he grew up with and loved very much. That story came up once, and only once.
He liked red hair. I think that's what initially won him over when I moved in. That and the fact that I was from Alaska.
I have many more memories stored in my heart... and they will be there forever.
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