Dearest Rachel – I hope it didn’t sound like I was teasing my sister when I referred to the fact that she was taking care of all the administrative work behind dad‘s funeral arrangements as her means of coping with his passing. To be sure, teasing is one of the main duties of being a…
Dearest Rachel – One last travel story before we move on. Yes, there’s a lot to deal with at home, with Dad’s passing and everything that has to be done both to commemorate him and figure out how to move on with life after him (all of which should sound familiar, since that’s basically been…
Dearest Rachel – I tell you, honey, we leave for a few weeks, and when we come back, everything is turned completely upside down. Or is that too callous a perspective? To be fair, it was Dad himself who made the rueful joke about not being able to pick us up at the airport…
Dearest Rachel – This shouldn’t come as any great surprise to you, honey – you’d lived with me long enough to know already, and you’ve seen plenty written to you since then to watch me codify it that much further – but I’m something of a foodie. Oh, I can live with simple stuff at…
Dearest Rachel – I don’t know what it is about travel; maybe it’s the upset involving time zones and having to get used to them, or perhaps it’s the fact that I’m sharing a room with Daniel, whose sleep cycle is that much more out of sync with my own than even yours, especially on…
Dearest Rachel – Our last port of call before making our way to Vancouver and home, and the clouds are once again out and about, as per the more customary Alaskan weather. Likewise, Daniel’s mood seemed that much more… I wouldn’t say sullen, but he was understandably down. But who wouldn’t be, upon getting the…
Dearest Rachel – Sometimes, the fact that I record these things off the cuff in real time makes it hard to say anything particularly important or appropriately meaningful. I have some idea of what to say, but it never feels like enough; especially given the current situation. But under the circumstances, I’m operating under the…
I wasn’t there that morning when my father passed away. I didn’t get to tell him all the things I had to say. Mike and the Mechanics, “The Living Years” (1988) Dearest Rachel – I think Daniel was asleep, but not for long thereafter. My phone vibrated at about five-thirty this morning. It was Jenn,…
Dearest Rachel – Up until Wednesday, I had no idea this was a place, let alone this was where we were going to be stopping yesterday. Judging from the maps showing our ship’s progress and itinerary, I’d assumed we would be pulling into Juneau – which, ironically, would have been the first stop of this…
Dearest Rachel – It never occurred to me to ask Kevin about it to confirm it, but somewhere out there, I had heard that the life of a security guard was 99.9 percent composed of sheer and utter boredom, with that last one-tenth of one percent of time being spent in mortal fear for your…
Letters to Rachel 