There are days when one wakes up and all they want to do is go back to sleep for a long, long time. Today is one of those days for me. Most of the time I can distract myself when I am down with music or other temporary escapes, but with the loss of my father in law still fresh on my mind (and in my heart), its a little hard to shrug off today. Ron was one of the kindest people I have ever had the pleasure of getting to know and he was one to treat you with respect and courtesy (even if you didn't necessarily deserve it). He loved golf (and played more than anyone I had ever met before...his hours on the greens rivaled most pros), but he loved his family more, especially his grandkids (but Connor most of all). In the twelve years I was blessed to know him, he never had an unkind word for me (even when I really deserved an ass chewing). Normally I deal with grief on my own and in private, but for somereason this just seemed like a good idea. And even as hard as it has been for me, I know others in the family have had it worse than me. My wife has handled the loss amazingly well, but her brother in law has really hit the wall with the loss. It was a hell of a blow to Jason because (much like me) his father wasn't much of an influence or part of his life. Ron became kind of a suragate father to Jay in a lot of ways and speaking from my own experience, its really hard to lose your family twice, so you can imagine the impact it has had on all of us.
Then I think about my family, and how lucky my wife and her sister were to have the father they had. My father didn't really have much to do with me (and believe me I tried to  to do something about that, but you can only move mountains when the rocks are willing to cooperate) and any contact we did have relied on me being the one to  initiate it. My dad was a marine in the eighties and the only solid memories I have of him are living just off the 29 Palms base. I had three brothers and a sister that I have never gotten the opportunity to be family with since their mother doesn't want anything to do with me and effectively blocked me from being allowed to even talk to them once in a while (thanks for that George). Compare that to a father who loved his daughters with every fiber of his boday and did everything you would expect a good father to do for his kids. And you know, most people in my shoes might have been jealous of the fact that they grew ip with something that I never knew, but it always made me feel good to know that someone out there was really living the American Dream, not just propagating a myth. Long story short, Ron, we miss you and we all wish we had had more time with you. It would be great if a cure for cancer is found someday but it won't bring you back to us, and on days like today..that reality really sucks.