Dad.

We had a sweet weekend in Columbus, where my dad has just moved into an assisted living facility close to where my brother and his wife live. We sat around and talked, sat around and didn’t talk. We took him and his dog out for very slow walks. He said yes when we asked him if he wanted to join us for pizza and beer, which surprised us all, and, also surprisingly, had no complaints about the pizza and said the beer (a local IPA) was “acceptable.”

I spent a good chunk of the time hanging pictures in his new apartment. It went smoothly, and he was pleased with the results. If you know anything about my dad and our relationship, you know I should be getting some kind of medal or something. The things about him that I hated most when I was young are now the things I find myself holding onto most tightly, because they are "him," and they're slipping away.