FEATURE
K C U T S
E L D D MI M
OF T E S N E S G A K IN
H
S R A E Y H C I E ‘S A ND W
’
BY BILL FARREL
W
ith bleary eyes I saw my dad’s phone number on the screen of my phone as it rang early in the morning. “Hello, Dad. How are things?” “Well, I’m not sure.” This is how he now begins conversations when he needs help figuring something out. “Are we still on for the conference call?” “What conference call, Dad?” “The conference call with the suppliers. Jim, you and me are supposed to talk with the supplier.” “Dad, there is no conference call and no supplier. It must have been a dream.” My aging father is one of the smartest, sharpest men I have ever known. His engineering mind helped put men
26 SEVEN JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2017
on the moon and his memory holds 13 generations of our family, including dates, places of residence, careers and accomplishments. His retirement and mobility issues, however, provide too much time for that active mind to sit around and think. As a result, he periodically needs to talk things out to regain perspective. Later that same day, my schedule was interrupted by a call from one of my sons. He is grown now with a family of his own. I was excited to see his name on the screen. Since we are both busy, I didn’t want to miss the opportunity. “Dad, do you have a few minutes? I need some advice.” For the next hour we talked about family life and home buying. He was considering a career move and a home purchase and needed someone to help him evaluate his
