On a personal note: My father passed on Christmas Day, in his home, while holding my hand. He was the coolest guy I knew, and will be forever.
He was a wizard storyteller. A writer and a professor, a mentor, a punk, a historian, a filmmaker, a poet, a peacekeeper, and importantly, a comic. Unexpectedly, he also became a spiritual guide, perhaps his ultimate calling.
He showed me firsthand what true fearlessness is. It’s somewhat different than courage, which opposes fear, and therefore requires it. Fearlessness operates on a different plane altogether- and is contagious. Watching him ease into his sage era was something I never quite anticipated. He wore it like a Borsalino.
The doctors expected him to pass sometime last April, maybe May. Beyond June, I was told, was highly unrealistic. But he had other plans, as he sometimes did when it came to authority. He thought it’d be a better idea to go out to the beach a few more times over the summer. Then he decided to stick around to meet his grandson, my nephew, who was born at the end of August, and was named after him. After that, he figured he’d hang through Thanksgiving. It seemed every one of his many visitors topped him up a little bit, especially little Amos.
I watched him become ever more sensitive to language, energies, and even ideas. In early December, he told me he was ready to “glide out”. And so, he finally did, in epic fashion, on Christmas Day, while Claudia and I held his hands. He exuded love, and was surrounded by it - til the last drop.
He will be deeply missed. We’ll miss his stories. I get the feeling, if we listen carefully enough, we can still hear them.
@amos.poe 
