Obituary

My father's remains were cremated on Friday. I think I'll be flying out to be with my brother and his family on Thursday evening or Friday morning of this week. I think I need it for me more than he needs me there. It will be the first time James will meet my family. Kinda sucky circumstances, and one of my few regrets with regards to my father is that he and James never got to spend any time together.

This will be going into the paper in Portales, NM, and Omaha, NE. I wrote it at the request of my Aunt Debbie, and I've had a lot of people proofread it now. I suppose mostly I'm putting it here for my own purposes.

"Thomas Paul Husted passed away on February 19, 2008, at the age of 51. He died of a stroke in Lubbock, Texas while visiting his brother. Tom was born to John Husted and June Husted York on March 18, 1956 in Omaha, Nebraska. He lived his childhood and early adult years in Nebraska, and moved with his family to Kansas in 1985. His final move was to Hot Springs, Arkansas, to be near his grandsons. Tom is survived by his daughter Rita Husted Scott, his son Michael Husted, his older brother Harold Walrath, his two older sisters Deborah Wyscarver and Kristine Lemmon, and three grandsons, Dillon, Carter and Morgan, as well as extended family and many close friends. His ashes will remain in the care of his immediate family. Memorial donations may be sent to the American Diabetes Association in honor of Thomas Husted."

Dad

Dear Dad,
I am going to miss you so much. I know you understand how much I love you, and I know you understood why I left. I just wish I could have been there, I wish I could have protected you- even if from yourself.
You taught me so much. I got my coffee habit from you. I remember as a kid watching you and mom drink coffee everyday and thinking how I would never do that. Now, as I sit here drinking my coffee there's a part of me that smiles, even through my tears. I learned how to do the right thing from you, even when it's not always the easiest thing to do. I learned how to be snarky and sarcastic from you, and I inheireted my love of folk music from you.
I hope you know how much I enjoyed those nights that we sat out on your deck with the music a bit too loud and just talked. I loved our trips for Ice Cream, and I love you so much for supporting my decision to move thousands of miles away, even though it meant leaving you behind.
Thank you for helping me to design that poster for the school carnival when I was in fourth grade, it totally should have won. Thank you for walking me down the aisle when I got married, and for letting me sleep at your house when I got divorced. Thank you for being my patient when I was in school and was going to get an F for the day. Thank you for every time you've saved my ass. I am so sorry that you never got to meet James, you would enjoy his company so much, you two are birds of the same feather.
I could fill a book with good memories, and I love that. Thank you for being such a good friend. I love you so much.

With more love than you can imagine,
Your daughter and friend

Interesting

I think it's kind of interesting that I've lived in:
The land of Oz (Kansas)
The rainbow state (Hawaii)
The Emerald City (Seattle, WA)

Maybe I should have been named Dorothy; or I deserve a pair of ruby slippers at the very least.



If you could only have 10 CD's for the rest of all time, what would they be?

Give Up from The Postal Service
Discovery from Daft Punk
Those are two of mine. I don't actually have a whole list compiled yet, but I'm pretty sure those would both be on it.

The Emerald City

James and I have been in Seattle for a week now. We found an apartment the day after we got here, which has been both a huge blessing and a gigantic pain in the ass, as new apartments generally are. The apartment has pretty much everything we wanted, gas stove, bathtub, two bedrooms, fireplace, and pets are allowed. Street parking for now, but so far that's been pretty easy, unlike Honolulu. I'll put some pictures up once our stuff arrives- we've even got a view of Puget Sound and the Olympic mountains. I think once summer rolls around we'll have a great place, it has a HUGE balcony that will be so awesome for eating dinner on. (Parties too, if we ever make any friends.)

I've been offered several jobs so far, but I think I'll ultimately end up taking one in Queen Anne. James has had a couple of job interviews, and one that seems pretty promising at Progressive Tech. We're completely without furniture or internet in our place. We come down to the coffee shop in our building to drink coffee and steal internet. Actually, everyone here has been pretty great, they even send food home with us at the end of the day.

I miss Hawaii. It's impossible to miss anytime someone asks me about Hawaii, I light up and talk almost non-stop. I think that will get easier, but I am awfully homesick right now. Q and Matt are talking about a spring break adventure reunion here, which would be extremely cool. (This is open to anyone who wants to come, so long as you don't mind sleeping on floorspace in our apartment.) Of course I miss the weather, and the sun, but mostly I just miss my friends.


I got a cold as soon as we got here, but it resolved pretty quickly. Now James has one. We get internet on Monday, so today and tomorrow should be it in terms of extremely slow boring weekends. I'll start getting paid next week, which means the end of this being as broke as two people can possibly be. We may even have enough money by next weekend to buy a bed! It was almost 50 degrees today, which really isn't bad unless the wind is blowing. If it's nice again tomorrow I want to go out and take some pictures.


We live about a mile and a half from the Space Needle, for anyone who was wondering, though we haven't actually gone over there yet.

Friends

I was at the bookstore yesterday with Q and James, and reality came crashing through like a block of ice. Tonight is the last night I will be seeing any of my friends here in Honolulu. I get on a plane tomorrow at 2, and leave here.

Last Saturday James, Miles and I got a going away party. It was supposed to be a surprise- and even though I figured out that there were going to be a bunch of people over for dinner, I had no idea to what extent it had been planned. It wasn't a thrown together at the last minute party.

Pat made dinner, a mac nut crusted ahi with rice. He allowed me to contribute a homemade mango chutney, and it was a fantastic meal. Lowell and Q brought a big cake made up of chocolate cupcakes, and Q also brought me a pumpkin pie. Jordan brought wine, Devaki brought a homemade pumpkin crunch dessert. Tray, Alex and Seth were here also. Tray had to leave for a class, but came back after it. We played Uno and Celebrity Head, and spent the whole evening laughing and talking. They gave us two cards that everyone signed, and everyone chipped on on a going away gift as well. Even now it's hard to come up with the words that express how thankful I am to have such amazing friends.

I have pictures, but no good way to get at them, so once I'm all settled in Seattle I'll put some up. I'm sure at that point I'll be really good and homesick as well, so probably some long soppy blog will accompany them.

Tonight is the last night though. It freaks me out a bit. These people, my friends- the ones I would do anything for- they are the ones that supported me when James was gone. They have provided innumerable hours of support, love, fun, and adventures. Tonight isn't the last time I'll see them, but it's the last time I'll be close enough to any of them to just drop in, or send out a text for a Thai food partner. The physical location of Seattle isn't the scary part of moving, it's the removal of myself from all of these dear, amazing people in my life.

So, to each one of you: Quest, Patrick, Tracy, Lowell, Alex, Jordan, Miles, Devaki- to Zoe and Greg, who aren't here, but certainly fall squarely into this category- Thank you all from the very bottom of my heart. I love each and every one of you, and will miss you all like crazy.