In Memory of a Not so Simple Man

We received some bad news this morning. Hubby's father passed away. It has been a very weird day of waiting for news and decisions. Hubby is still in shock mode as with the rest of the family.

Let me tell you about Dad In Law (so we will call him Dil). He never spoke to me for the first six months I was with Hubby. Hubby's reasons over the years have changed at to why. I think we hit upon the real reason. Hubby dated girls of questionable character (putting it very mildly) and according to Hubby Dil was waiting to see which category I fit into. All was forgiven when one afternoon, he looked over to my daughter and said, "Pass Grandpa that chocolate." He pointed to a plate that sat in front of him. All was forgiven.

This man could make anything out of...well...pretty much anything. His workshops looked something akin to a mad scientist's playground. His sawmill was the scariest thing I had ever laid eyes on. It would have made a great setting for a horror flick and the amazing thing is everything worked like clockwork. But as per Hubby's DNA being from the patriarchal side, nothing was ever finished.

He was stubborn as the day was long and frustrating to deal with in many ways. Dil was not an easy man to live with. I have sympathy for my mother-in-law as I am dealing with the watered down version. I could not imagine the fully concentrated version, holy crap there is not enough iron to make the frying pans needed. But as each Grandchild came along, blood or otherwise, he would try and reach out to each one. He was rather pleased when Daughter was visiting and was giving a try at welding. Dil was pleased to know she is engaged to a welder. I told Dil I blamed his influence.

Dil had many sides to him as all men do. Some were sweet, some were irritating and others were heartwarming. He was many things to many people. His roles as father, husband, brother and grandfather were done with his own finesse, showing his love in his own way.

Godspeed Dad E Godspeed