Joe

Tracy's dad, Joe, died last weekend.
Joe and Tracy's mom divorced when Tracy was just 4 years old. She kept in contact with him for years and saw him every so often.
He was a former cop when I met him, which was more than a little intimidating. He was socially awkward, but he knew that and he worked very hard at not being that way. I always appreciated the effort that he took and how nice he was to me all these years.
My fondest memory of Joe was on one of his trips through Colorado on his way to Illinois in his RV. He always stopped by Greeley on the way out there and on the way back to California.
This time, we decided that he'd help us decorate my downstairs area of our house with a dart board. Joe loved darts (as well as softball and bowling). It was probably the first time Joe and I really connected... you know the way two guys connect when working on some project involving lots of tools and a goal in mind has no real asthetic or helpful goal, but is just fun. We found just the right electronic board, based on his recommendation. Bought a nice case for it and then set upon putting it up. Cutting through drywall, brackets, placement. It was fun.
And then we spent the next several hours playing darts until I thought my arm was going to fall off. I had never been sore the next day from playing darts until that day. Of course, Joe wiped up the floor with me. He knew all the plays ("All I need is a triple 16 and a 3" and then HE'D DO IT!!!).
Tracy and I tried a couple times to recreate that moment on subsequent visits (like going to a Rockies game with him), but it never quite lived up to that one.
Today, Tracy and Greta are in California with their half-sister Kelly at a memorial for Joe. Since I couldn't be there, I thought I'd do my memorial here.