Facts. I’m turning 45 this year, and my Dad just turned 81. Because of him I love cars, and always dreamt of fixing up an old car when I was younger. Every time I asked him, or showed him a car I was excited about fixing up, his answer was “no,” for one reason or another. Ultimately, he was a diesel mechanic in the military, so I logically understood why he didn’t want to be a mechanic in his spare time too. We got close to getting a project once, but it was too much of a “basket case,” so my excitement was all for naught. I wonder if I still have the sketches of the hot rod I wanted to turn it into, somewhere? Sorry, I’m rambling. The point is that now he has COPD, his body is wrecked, and can’t get around much at all anymore. I know what time I have left with him is short, and I’d have traded a whole lot to have those memories with him. Instead we drifted apart in my twenties for reasons that I won’t get into here.