Life Outside : Boat shopping and death of my father

 What my husband was not.

He was not a regular type of man.

I would see a man flipping burgers in the backyard and wish my husband was more like a regular man.

He liked to call himself an eccentric.

What he was, was a man driven by many devils, if you could call it that.

He was always into projects.

Once into projects, he would go at it till it was finished.

And find another project to fill his time.

He wanted badly to be a writer but he was more an artist than writer.

He painted better than he wrote.

A year after we were married, he retired early and started shopping for a sailboat.

We drove all along the coast, looking at different boats to buy.

And ended up ordering one to be built.
It would be a steel sailboat, thirty nine feet long.

We were driving back when my heart started sinking in dread.

Fearing an accident, I turned the wheel over to George.

When we reached the town without any incidents, I sighed with relief.

Ten days after we were back, his son came visiting.

Looking at my happy face, he started looking very uncomfortable.

“Have you called home?” he asked.

“What happened?” I asked him, “Is something wrong?”

He hedged then blurted out, “Your father passed away.”

I did not believe it. It was as though if I did not believe it, it would not be real.

I reached for a phone and called my mother, “What happened to father?” I asked.

“He passed away. He went for a minor prostate surgery and passed away,” my mother told me.

I howled into the phone. His blood would not clot and he bled to death.

I made hasty arrangements and flew back to be with my mother.

We had planned a trip to visit my parents in September. 

I flew back at the end of June with George joining me three months later.