Go Retire Psychiatrist

The radio station KOKZ Mike Water’s Wake-Up Call show was on a few days ago, making various jokes and taking calls from the public about Father’s Day. I could say that I haven’t thought about my dad for years, but that’s not true. I think about my family. All of them died within a few years of each other. Between 2000 and 2004, I buried my brother Randy and Mom. But I didn’t bury my father, Johnnie, which is the name he went by to many people. When I was a kid, I was called Jimmie.

He signed his letter to me and Sena using the name Johnnie in 2000. He sent it to us shortly after Randy died of throat cancer in his early 40s. Dad died in 2002 and Mom died in 2004.

Once in a while, I look at old pictures of them. The pictures I think are the best are from June of 1960, which might have been taken around Father’s Day for all I know. The separate pictures of Dad and the kids and Mom and the kids seems a little odd. I think Dad took a picture of Mom with the kids and Mom took a picture of Dad with the kids. I’m guessing we don’t have a group picture of all of us because there was nobody around to do that.

Dad left home for various reasons, which is all too common in many families. My parents eventually divorced.

On the other hand, we all had a few things in common aside from genetics. We liked walking although I don’t recall us going for walks together. We all had a sense of humor. And we liked certain puzzles, like crosswords and certain card games. We didn’t share those very often or for very long.

Years after dad left, when I was a paperboy, one of my customers invited me into his family’s house to visit for a few minutes. One of the boys gave me a matchbook with Dad’s phone number and address on it. Dad asked him to give it to me. I hadn’t heard from him in years, so I was stunned.

Eventually, I got to know more about him. Most of it I could have done without. He still had a sense of humor, but he was sick from longstanding alcoholism, which eventually killed him in 2002.

After Randy died, I managed to get both mom and dad in the same car together to attend Randy’s funeral, which a friend said was a miracle. He was grumpy at the graveside ceremony. We got through it.

Shortly after that, he wrote the letter I mentioned above. The most important thing he wrote was:

Dear Son & daughter. I am happy to receive another card from you, because it makes me feel good to get them and read them again and again.

I’m really happy & excited that we’ve overcome all obstacles that seemed to keep us apart so long….

Love, Johnnie

Happy Father’s Day, Dad.

Love, Jimmie