Dean, Death & Dallas

A dear friend of my "eclectic family" has died. He'd been in poor health for a while, but was vibrant and encouraging the bulk of his 91 years on this earth. The funeral is tomorrow in Dallas and at first I couldn't conceive of how I could be there for it. Although we're less stressed about Amy's health, she's not exactly rebounding yet, plus there is this hurricane which I initially believed would be bearing down on Texas fairly rapidly. I can't skip out on work during hurricanes...it's not good for my long term job prospects.

The more I considered it though, and admittedly Amy had a great deal of influence, the more I realized I really needed to be there to praise this man, and to stand by my other "eclectic family members" whom he stood by for so many years.

So I scrambled with schedules, praised God that Hurricane Dean is apparently taking a cue from Howard Dean's Iowa debacle and running off in an unexpected direction, rented a car (not going to risk driving our car in such a rushed situation) and will stop into the office for a couple of hours in the morning to get things organized and before zipping up to Dallas. I'll only have a handful of hours before I'll have to turn right around and come back, so it will be a long day. I think it will be good day nonetheless.

Amy won't be making the trip. She's not happy about that but she knows she needs rest and a regular schedule of sleep. I don't want her to endure 10 or 12 hours of driving...so it will be a bit lonely.

I plan to rest in the company of my memories...of a very good man, a loving man and a legacy of integrity. I suspect that will sustain me.

Joe Jackson
January 1916 - August 2007