Coffee Break for Dad

Have you had a parent die? My father passed away on 18 Nov 2003 of pancreatic cancer. He would have been 71 years old today, Feb 22nd. My dad was a farmer and cattle rancher from DeLamere ND. His favorite thing to do was going to town for a coffee break, and shooting the breeze with whoever was there.

When a person dies life doesn't stop, it keeps going. It might slow down, but it never stops. December 2003 I got my Commercial Drivers License (CDL) and become an Over The Road (OTR) truck driver. In march of 2004, my brother's high school basketball team made it to the state championship game. He could have left the team, and nobody would have questioned it. But he did not, he kept playing. When he died, my two brothers took over the family farm. They expanded it and now it's 4 times bigger. My dad didn't get to see his youngest daughter graduate from college, or see his daughter's two little girls. He didn't get to see me in my first stock car race. That reminds me, I got to write about that yet. He missed his youngest son's wedding, and the birth of his grandson. As you can see a lot has happened in 7 years to his family.

Sunday Feb 20th was the Daytona 500. It was 10 years ago that Nascar racer Dale Earnhardt died at Daytona. When Dale died Nascar didn't cancel the next race, No they raced. I remember that race. It was held in Rockingham NC, and only a couple laps into it Dale Earnhardt Jr crashed. He was out of the race. If that wasn't enough, it started raining and the finish was moved to Monday. Dale Earnhardt's driver Steve Park won the race.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kajZ6VENnXo   A couple of weeks later at Atlanta GA, the man who was replacing Dale Earnhardt, Kevin Harvick, won.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJujUxwthkM   The best therapy was to keep racing.

Life doesn't stop for any one person, life continues on.

Next month is my mom's birthday. So God willing, I should be able to celebrate that with her. Now if you excuse me it's time for a coffee break.