I’ve spent the last three-and-a-half weeks working my tail off on the book. I’m making great strides, but I still have a long way to go before calling the first draft complete. In the meantime, I want to give you a sneak peek at an excerpt from the letter I wrote Sunday, February 10, 2013 — 2 days after Papa passed.<\/p>\n
—————————<\/p>\n
Dear Papa,
\nToday I set out with a task no daughter wants to fulfill:\u00a0 buying a stack of newspapers with her father\u2019s obituary inside. Mama and I decided we should have approximately 10-12 copies to make sure there\u2019s enough for everyone in the family who likely wants one. A single copy was delivered to our doorstep, but I needed to gather the rest.
\nI suppose for some people this would be an odd keepsake, but as long as I can remember, we\u2019ve always kept newspaper copies of obituaries for family members. Even while I was at college, Mama sent me obituaries when people passed away back home.<\/p>\n
Sunday papers are pretty popular, so I had to make 3 stops before my collection was complete. I moved in slow motion each time I got in and out of the car. My emotions have manifested themselves into a physical burden, and I feel a heaviness bearing down on my body. At the last gas station, as I dropped my armful of periodicals on the checkout counter, the attendant presumed me to be a master of frugality asking, \u201cYou like coupons?\u201d<\/p>\n
I softly corrected him, \u201cNo, my dad\u2019s obituary is in the paper today.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOh no! I\u2019m so sorry. How old was he?\u201d<\/p>\n
This is a common pleasantry people (myself included) always seem to ask when learning of the death of someone we don\u2019t know. It\u2019s as though the answer will offer us a chance to extend a more personalized sympathy. \u201cEighty-five? Wow! What a full life he\/she must have lived.\u201d \u201cForty-seven? Oh my! That\u2019s way too young. What happened?\u201d<\/p>\n
I answered, \u201cSixty-eight,\u201d and he offered a sympathetic \u201cthat\u2019s too young\u201d shake of the head. I thumbed to the page where your image accompanied the CliffsNotes to your life, and showed him your photo.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo handsome!\u201d he remarked. \u201cHe was a good man?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOh yes! He was a wonderful man.\u201d<\/p>\n
Was. Past tense. How can I speak about you this way? You are still<\/i> wonderful to me. I\u2019m not ready to put that in the past.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I’ve spent the last three-and-a-half weeks working my tail off on the book. I’m making great strides, but I still have a long way to go before calling the first draft complete. In the meantime, I want to give you a sneak peek at an excerpt from the letter I wrote Sunday, February 10, 2013<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/letterstomypapa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2458"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/letterstomypapa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/letterstomypapa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/letterstomypapa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/letterstomypapa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2458"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/letterstomypapa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2458\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2459,"href":"https:\/\/letterstomypapa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2458\/revisions\/2459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/letterstomypapa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/letterstomypapa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/letterstomypapa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}