Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Farewell to Loved Ones

After a long hiatus from blogging, I'm grieved to report that my dad, William (Bill) Paul Black, passed from this earth on Friday, June 13th. He was born on August 6, 1942 and was just shy of his 66th birthday. The cancer that had originated in his lungs moved to his brain and kidneys a couple of weeks ago, he was transferred to in-home hospice care, and his wife Lori took care of him to the end. Sabrina and I were able to join my younger brother and his wife in Redmond, Oregon right after he started getting hospice care at home. I'm very thankful I was able to spend some time with him while he could still recognize me with his eyes and ears. I also have fond final memories sitting in his living room with my three siblings and putting on a little musical "concert" of sorts, playing everything from Coldplay, Eric Clapton, and John Denver songs to much of my worship music repertoire from Athey Creek Christian Fellowship. I have my dad to thank for playing the guitar. He used to have his nylon string guitar sitting around the house when we lived in Orange County, California. I picked it up when I was in middle school and started playing songs from his folk music chord sheets--stuff like "Hang Down Your Head, Tom Dooley," "The Banks of the Ohio," and "Sloop John B." I also have great memories of being coached in Little League by my athletic dad, watching him play golf and lob ball, and fishing together in the lakes and streams of the Beartooth Country in and around Cooke City and Silver Gate, Montana (just outside the northeast corner of Yellowstone National Park). Above is a picture of my dad as we returned from a fishing trip on our trusty 15 m.p.h. "tote-goat." The pic below was taken last summer, just after my son Chris and I returned from a backpacking trip in the Three Sisters area. You can check out more pics in the "Black Family Potpourri" photo album on the right sidebar.


We also had to say "good-bye" to our precious yellow lab, Bahkit. He was nearly ten-years-old and a true and faithful friend, hiking buddy, water-lover, mountaineer, and family member. In recent months, his hips were really bothering him and, despite the pain and hip medication, was going from bad to worse. His entire hind end was fairly well immobile by the time I took him in to the vet to be put to sleep. I will miss kissing the top of his cute little head, petting his soft, velvety ears, looking into his faithful eyes, and having the best of all hiking and backpacking companions. We have wonderful memories in the Mt. Hood and Three Sisters Wilderness areas, hiking around, chasing butterflies, crashing through streams, and swimming for hours in the high lakes of the Oregon Cascades. Bahkit is a word that means "joy" in the Kazakh language, and he indeed lived up to his name!