Just before the war crashed down on people's lives, Dad was soaking up a soda on the patio in Eastmoreland.

Dad and me in our swimming pool in Beaverton-early fifties

As the wheel turns

Buddhists, if I understand their belief,   have a vision of a 'wheel of existence'.   Today I am conscious of that concept as the calendar sweeps us forward and  I recall the day Dad went to the hospital in great discomfort.   His hip was hurting bad and he couldn't find a position that gave him respite.   I sit tonight in my chair and try to focus on what that discomfort would be like.   I can't easily imagine it.   Nor, a year back. could I imagine the chain of events that would lead to Dad's death.   And no more could I imagine how profoundly he is present in my life,  regardless of death.   Today I honor my dad, as I have so many days in the past year.