Why I'm In Oregon

Originally the Younger Hunger and I had planned to be here to visit for Thanksgiving and Wednesday was the day we were to travel but things took a turn for the worse here and we came early so I could get a chance to say goodbye to one of my Dads.

He has been failing for a while now and although he wanted to make it through his favorite time of year, the Holidays it is now just a matter of hours.  Henry has been staying with friends in Vancouver and yesterday his Mum Kristin was on her way south from the Seattle area and was in a wreck that totaled her car and shook us all up.  She's fine and the car is shot but she and Henry came out today to say their goodbyes and before they left Henry went back to talk to Grampa alone.  I am very proud of him as it couldn't have been easy for his 11 years.

Anyway, the reason I started in on this on my blog about frugality... I'm one of the lucky ones in that I have two Fathers that have always cared for me and felt I was worthy of their time and attention as they taught me the way of life.  True neither has been perfect and we've had our differences along the way but they are both my Dad.  Each have taught me different things and even different ways of looking at the same things.  The Dad in Oregon is the one that gave me my love for fine wine and beer, teaching us that these products are food and the good ones are a product of artists and not industrialists.  He taught me that wine doesn't have to be expensive to be great and that there are also ways once you find the wines you like, to purchase them young at a reasonable price and hold onto those wines until they become something great.

This is also the man that taught me to stand up and fight for my ideals regardless of how unpopular they might be because they are mine but also the same man that taught me the difference between a sasanqua and a japonica camellia for although he was a citizen soldier in WWII he also loved all the flora and all the fauna along with his tough guy persona.

I'll probably pepper my next few days posts with things I've learned from this Dad along the way as I write and I hope you'll all indulge me my memories but I'll still focus on how to live the good life but I'll be thinking of one of the people who taught me to live it along the way.

Hasta