journal features

my father is gone

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

Kokubunji, 2023.07.28

Death, what a bummer. It awaits us all, like the limiting structure of a haiku that gives that art form its cache. But it's always a punch in the stomach. Mari and the kids and I shared a recording on Tuesday night sharing some memories with my Dad before the end. And my brother was able to be with him at the end, which is great.

My father was a Canadian champion glider pilot and competed internationally, so he'll be remembered at the Nationals which are coincidentally this weekend. I'm on the other side of the world, of course, but it's good to know!

rand()m quote

Meaning is not something you stumble across, like the answer to a riddle or the prize in a treasure hunt. Meaning is something you build into your life. You build it out of your own past, out of your affections and loyalties, out of the experience of humankind as it is passed on to you, out of your own talent and understanding, out of the things you believe in, out of the things and people you love, out of the values for which you are willing to sacrifice something. The ingredients are there. You are the only one who can put them together into that unique pattern that will be your life. Let it be a life that has dignity and meaning for you. If it does, then the particular balance of success or failure is of less account.

—John Gardner