Goodbye

This weekend the three of us headed up north to Sonoma, to Dash's aunt & uncle, Cheryl & Doron's, house to gather with some of our closest friends and family and say goodbye to my dad. It wasn't a memorial. It was a party. It was raucous and full of all the foods he loved and booze he imbibed. We all held each other up as we laughed and cried at our memories of him and talked about how our lives were shaped by him. We sat around a fire and sang old songs badly and at the top of our lungs. It was exactly the farewell he deserved, and the kind of party he would have been proud to throw his own self.

Uncle Doron & my dad's friend, Misha, with two countem TWO types of caviar.

Dash kinda almost tried one.

Timothy & Kate & shots of vodka, as it should be.

You know you're at a Russian party when you're rocking assorted smoked & salted fish & people are actually eating them.

Also, FOUR types of oysters. Is it weird how much I'm focusing on the food?

Cured mmmmeats.

Josh ate oysters.

Dash pretended to eat oysters.

Aunty & Tio & Nacho came up and helped keep me steady.

And then we started singing.

Accompanied by Dash on the flute, obvs.

Then, marshmallows, elegantly consumed. 

My dad was an atheist to the end. But I'm not, and the idea that I may never see him again makes me want to start setting houses on fire, so I'll say this to the old man: See you in the sky. Thank you for the beautiful life and the perfect memories. Thank you for the laughter and lessons. Thank you for loving me the best. I love you the best, too.