I'm just recently back from a lovely week at my dad's cabin up north, a week of fishing, reading, and gin and tonics. Today, I'm going back. This time, though, it'll just be me and my dad.
He bought the place maybe 8 years ago, and has put a lot of time into making improvements (hooking up water and electricity were the big ones). But he seems to spend most of his time up there alone. His tween-aged kids aren't crazy about the place, and my step-mom gets there maybe once a year. I talked to him a couple days ago when he was home alone between his usual duties as chef and chauffeur, and he sounded just plain lonely.
He's a kind of solitary person, like me, and I get the sense that he's increasingly afraid of getting old and dying. It's not something his second family can really relate to (my step-mom's in her early 40s), but I feel like I might have some insight into what he's feeling.
So we'll go up north, do some fishing, maybe install a new screen door, probably drink too much, and maybe continue to become friends. It's good for me, too.
