surrealism

this whole experience--coming home to accompany my dad everywhere, his dad's house, the funeral home, the viewings, etc. its surreal. since i was 8, i have been estranged from this side of my family. no contact with my grandfather, my uncle, my aunt, my cousins, etc. my grandmoter died before i was born (hence, my name), and i knew nothing about her other than stories my dad and mom told me. i knew she was a big part of my dad's life, but i had no idea how big.

going to my grandfathers house was strange. i knew i had been there before, but i couldn't remember it for the life of me. the neighborhood was straight out of the 50s/60s. small, quaint houses with their once-perfectly landscaped from yards, large, old trees. you got to the driveway by pulling down a little gravel alleyway that connected all the house's driveways, so from the front of the house you couldn't SEE the driveway or the cars. great idea, by the way. we should bring it back.

pull up to this house, and i realize this is where my dad grew up. this street is where he played baseball, basketball, flew kites, played with marbles, everything. as we tore apart the his and his brother's childhood bedroom looking for pictures of his dad, we found those marbles. the exact ones he used when he was in elementary school. again, surreal.

through this experience, i found how much my dad's mom meant to him. we went to the house looking for pictures of his dad and left with his mother's belongings. the house was decorated to the brim with her paintings, and incredible ones at that. she was talented. and i can only hope i got more than her name invested in me.

it was hard being with my dad. a lot of his things were missing. his coin collection, his baseball collection. his baseball cleats from when he played in college and high school. his gloves, his cards, everything. we did find tapes of him pitching, though, so i will be able to see that. and we did find this college paper! The Kent Stater. dated april 30, 1970, featuring my dad on the cover. a few days later, the kent state massacre took place. crazy.

its weird to have all this history surrounding my family come rushing back to me.