I still miss him for a number of reasons. One biggie is that this year - just last month in fact - I was published for the first time. My Mom is fond of telling me that when I would send them stuff I'd written, they'd wonder if they thought it was great because I was their daughter and they couldn't be objective, or if I was really that good. That question was finally answered with LAst Resort, not to mention so far I've been acing my UCLA Extension classes.
He would have gotten a huge kick out of seeing me in print. He wasn't the easiest guy to impress, nor did he flatter or give compliments unless it was truly warranted and deserved, but he would have been having a blast with this.
I've also been able to move on from the clusterfuck of family drama created after he died and was no longer around to rule with an iron fist. Sometimes it actually helps to have one of those in the family, so that you don't have the inmates running the asylum. That whole episode was a bitter pill for a long time, not only because of the stress and aggravation it caused, but especially because it was so hatefully disrespectful of what everyone knew were his final wishes and what he would have wanted. But that crap is now in the past, and there it will stay. For the most part.
Because whether you consider it making lemonade when life gives you lemons, or every cloud having a silver lining, the fact is that although I once thought I'd never want to revisit that period of my life, with the passage of time it has in fact provided me with a ton of story fodder I wouldn't have otherwise had, including my Better Call Saul script for the UCLA program. And I know my Dad would have loved that.
Rest in peace, Dad, and know that all is finally well.
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