08/20/2025
Losing a parent is surreal, I can't think of any other way to describe it. But, the love and support that can result from that can be overflowing. We laid my dad to rest on August 16th and the amount of people that showed up for him and us was astounding.
They shared stories of his life that covered his love of fast cars and drag racing on the back roads of Henry, IL, his incredible athletic ability and waterskiing showmanship, fishing trips, how he loved my mom and our family with his whole heart, and even several stories of lives that he literally saved. I didn’t know what the word misogyny meant until my early twenties. And when my friend explained it she followed it up with, of course you don’t know, your dad is the least misogynistic man I know. He joined me and my sisters in countless theater productions over the years, then continued on his own once we were all out of the house. I always found that so adorable.
I was back home in IL for the last week of his life with my sisters and brother. My mom found a folder with essays he had written when he had a brief stint of going back to college when I was just a year old. He had the goal of being a basketball coach. None of us had ever read them, let alone knew they existed. Reading through them was like opening up a door into his mind. It was quite magical. There was one he wrote about his dream property for us all to live on. Acres of land with forests and a lake, with a modern log cabin away from the noise and pollution of the city. It was beautiful, and honestly sounds like my dream property! I feel like this is where he is now. Whatever happens to us after we pass, I know he is finally there.
If you got through this long-winded, emotional outpour, I thank you for staying with me 😂 This month has been a blur and I have so much gratitude to my broker and team members for stepping up and basically taking over for me. I could not have gotten through this without them. It’s going take time, but they gave me the space to process and grieve, and I am truly grateful. I look forward to the day I can pay this forward 💞