My family and I wish to extend our deepest thanks to those of you who have contacted us over the past five days with your sympathies and condolences.

I wish I could say more about what happened to Dad, but at this point all I can really say is that he died at 1300 this past Saturday, and that we were told that the preliminary cause of death was believed to be an aneurysm in his stomach.

As far as how we are doing, we are doing about as well as could be expected at this point. I went right back up to teach on Monday, and I’ve been busying myself with writing and starting to get answers to some of the three million questions raised by Dad’s death. This is going to be a very long process, and it will probably never be over, but at least it’s something that’s helping me keep busy. Being idle right now is probably the worst thing for me at this point.

I’ll be trying to resume normal blogging activities here soon, but I may not have too much to say about Dad for a while. There is writing for others and there is writing for one’s self, and right now I feel far more comfortable writing about Dad for myself than for others. That will change at some point, but I can’t say when.

For now, cliché as it is, I’d like to make one request to all of you, if you are lucky enough to be in a position where you can do so: please, please tell your parents how much you love them as soon as you can. Don’t assume that you’ll have the chance later, because you never know just when that opportunity will disappear, and disappear forever.

Everyone take care and be well. I’ll be back soon.