I haven’t posted a lot in the past few weeks or months. It’s been a difficult time, for both the country and I think for a lot of people, myself included.
Last summer, my father passed away. It’s hard to put into words what that means. I didn’t fully appreciate what a big deal that was going to be. My relationship with my father was difficult for the past 20 years, for a couple of reasons. As a result, we didn’t communicate much. We reconciled in 2024 and that was nice. But then he died less than a year later, and the loss was hard to take.
I think what’s sticking with me the most right now is what he would say about what’s happening in America recently. Dad spent much of his life trying to make the country better. He worked on the White House Conference on Small Business. He worked hard against gerrymandering, back in the 80’s before it became the poison it is now. He ran for Congress twice and for Senate once. And yes, those political aspirations were fairly Quixotic attempts to make change. But the man knew so much U.S. history, and was both a fierce patriot AND a harsh critic of our government when it was deserved. I was watching the Ken Burns series on the U.S. Revolution a few weeks ago. It feels like something that my father really would have enjoyed. I wish I had gotten the chance to watch it with him.
I remember when I was young and my dad would talk about how Aaron Burr, as Vice President, had killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel. How he took us to Gettysburg almost every year, each time taking us to a different part of the battlefield and immersing us in the history from both North and South perspectives. He was honest about the way he approached the history of this country.
I miss him. I wish I could ask him about what’s happening right now. I wish he was here to help put this all into some historical context that I could trust.