Brother Bob had called about a week before Christmas with the report that Dad was not doing well. The doctor who had listened to his heart said it sounded like a old washing machine that had lost a bearing. His appetite had all but disappeared and at times he just was not interested in getting up and participating in his daily routine. Bob thought we should know, and he called Sue's other five brothers and sisters with the same status report.
While Sue's Dad was on all of our minds through the holiday, we put a wrap on Christmas and prepared for our annual New Year's get-together with old friends (3 families) at the McCord's "Blue House" atop an oak and pine covered hill in East Texas. Inga and Sue had scheduled a slew of tests and appointments with doctors up through December 27th in order to keep tabs on her cystic fibrosis treatment while she was home from college, as Dallas offers access one of the best CF Clinics in the country. Encountering more than her fair share of dunderheads and dopes amongst the medical staff extended our family's departure for the McCords until Thursday afternoon. I had The Q loaded with overnight bags and our portion of the pantry to contribute to the communal meal preparations for 17 friends set to spend the New Years.
Sue sensing that East Texas may not be the place she needed to be, delayed packing her bags and spent time checking air fares to Sea-Tac. As I flogged the kids to double check their packing and get their stuff downstairs to be loaded into the car, Sue called a time out, being torn between good times with her family and friends in E. Texas or the option of flying out to be with her Dad and all of her siblings who had plans to begin gathering around her dad. We discussed the options only briefly before it was apparent that the heart was speaking clearly in this situation and that she truly needed to be in Washington with all of the Cooks. We hugged for a farewell and wished her godspeed in getting back to kin as we put the last bag in the car and drove east toward the Piney Woods without her.
Sue was en route New Year's Day when her Dad quietly and comfortably slipped away surround by several of his children and a parade of weeping Birch View staff members as they bid goodbye to one of their favorite long time residents. Her dad was talking of building a new room as the kids sat near his bed and then he turned his attention and conversation to others not physically present in his chamber and then he let go and was gone from this earth.
Honoring his request, no services were to be held, yet all seven of his children opted for a viewing at the funeral home to add a bit of closure to the week's events. A regathering of the Cook clan is tentatively scheduled for Spring or Summer at which time his ashes will be distributed over either land or sea at some meaningful place for a man that was born on the shores of Puget Sound, farming and fishing all of his long life where the sea meets Fidalgo Island.
After several good days spend with her brothers and sisters, sharing remembrances and swapping stories, Sue returned home around midnight Thursday (1/6) and awaits Alaska Airlines/American Airlines to let her luggage catch up to her back here in Garland.
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