Driving Around East-Central Minnesota with my Dad
My dad passed away five years ago this week. For at least 13 years, he’d been dealing with the slow moving effects of dementia, then he died after a series of strokes. By the time I moved back to Minnesota in 2018, the illness had already taken a lot away from him. Memory, confusion and basic communication were becoming harder for him each passing year. One of the things he still enjoyed doing was going for car rides. He and my mom would go on drives around the state, on days she wasn’t working. He and I went for a drive a few weeks after I moved back. His role was to navigate while I drove. I had no idea where he wanted to go, but I’d follow his direction. He talked of several places he wanted to see before we left, but I wasn’t familiar with this part of Minnesota. Figured it would probably make a good story at some point, so I’m in. Problem is, it has been nearly 8 years since, and I have a folder with well over 250 unlabeled pictures taken that day. My notes expand on the pho...