The Worst Day

 On Saturday November 23, I woke up to the news that my dad had passed away in his early morning sleep and my whole world changed in that one moment. 

My dad, Paul F. Olson, was born on March 20, 1935 in Iron Mountain, Michigan.  He was the oldest of three boys. 

He loved his guitar

My dad's father was an alcoholic and, while my dad kept in touch with his "old man", he was not a part of their daily family life.  After graduating from high school, my dad moved to Milwaukee and worked, sending money home to his mom to help support his two younger brothers.  At the same time he attended and graduated from the Milwaukee School of Engineering.  He joined the army, met my mom at a little cafe she worked at, and was deployed to Korea.

After getting back from Korea, my parents married on August 18, 1962.

August 18, 1962

According to my mom, she could not understand how such a handsome man would want anything to do with her.  She had some self-esteem issues.   

My sister and I were born only 15 months apart. We had the best childhood growing up in the 1970's in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.  He worked at Rockwell as a system's analyst from 1966 until he retired in 1992.  Even though he officially retired in 1992, he continued to work at Rockwell, paid hourly through a temp agency called Manpower, whenever they needed him until about 2000.

In 1972 they purchased this state-of-the-art Rolite camper (a beauty in those days - haha) and every summer we were off on an adventure across the United States and Canada.  This is why I have been in 43 of the 50 states.  As we got older, my parents continued to travel without us and had been in all 50 states.  They also enjoyed cruises to the Panama Canal and the Norwegian Fjords.

When I was about 10, I became a HUGE daddy's girl.  I took advantage of every opportunity I had to spend time with him - which is how I got into football.  Every Sunday in fall I would plop myself on the floor in the living room and watch the Packers game.  I asked him a million questions in an effort to get any understanding out of what I was watching.  I'm sure it drove him crazy, but he patiently answered every question. 

As my sister and I grew through our teenage years and into adulthood, we knew that there was no problem my dad could not help us fix.  He protected and took care of us and we always felt so secure knowing he was there for us. 

50th Wedding Anniversary in 2012

Over the past year his health declined rapidly and we knew this day was coming way sooner than any of us wanted it to (I mean - you don't ever want it to!!!).  

So while my dad is rejoicing in the presence of God, we are left here - heartbroken.  💔💔💔 But not without hope that we will one day see him again.