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Saturday, 2 December 2006
I know you're there ::
I sent this to a number of friends two days after my Dad’s passing (editing only slightly now):
When James and I finally got to the hospice, we sat with my brother Andy, Mom and Dad. Someone wondered where Dad was and if he could hear us, and I said, yes, he’s around. I told them a story. When I was maybe 10 or 11, Dad spent a summer in Thailand doing research. He wrote to us frequently and we eagerly looked forward to his letters. One evening, Mom, my brothers and I were out somewhere. When we were about a mile and a half from home, I burst out, “Dad’s home!” Mom replied skeptically, no, he’s not supposed to be home for another few days. I remained utterly certain. We pulled into the driveway; the house was dark. I ran up to the front door, pulled it open and yelled, “Hi Dad!” From just a few feet away in the dark hallway, he yelled back “How did you know?!” He had been waiting for us in the darkened house, hoping to surprise us, and I’d spoiled it.
How did I know? I don’t know, but that’s part of why I don’t have any doubt that his essence still exists, somewhere. In an instant I can imagine sitting next to him at a Cornell hockey game, with a cup of hot chocolate, feeling like the luckiest kid in the world to have such a great Dad. But I still miss him very badly right now.
I’m typing this from my Dad’s desk. There’s a huge double rainbow outside right now, both arcs entirely visible, with their two ends very symmetrically meeting the two rows of cottages to the east!
Many people took note of that double rainbow! My friend Rich wrote to tell me he’d had a special moment with his daughter then. Here’s how it looked to me:
Google found some more:
over Fernow Hall at Cornell
sudden rainbow
over Boynton Middle School (Ithaca Journal)
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