October 24, 2016

This post is from his daughter Lisa.

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He missed his flight by exactly 12 hours, but he is off! After a year of meticulous planning for this trip, we received this email last night:

9:30” departure means 9:30 am, not 9:30 pm. My flight left this morning.
This absurd error cost me $200. Now,I arrive in KTM 1 day later.
The good news:
-it only cost me $200
-I will have a whole day in HK, like last year. So, I’ll take the train into the city and tour the city again.
-I had a great bike ride with Ollie today. We both enjoyed it. Priceless!
I had a great afternoon with my family. Priceless.
My flight leaves at 1 am tomorrow.
Making lemonade out of lemons.
Dad/Papa

For those of you who know my dad well, this may not come as a total surprise. Over the years he has earned the nicknames of Clark Griswold or Mr Magoo by getting through little predicaments with a smile on his face. Just last night as he was about to leave, I  had to point out that he had a big hole in the front of his pants, so he changed clothes at the last minute. About the same time, my sister Lori was advising him to tell his Sherpa’s he doesn’t hear well out of his left ear so they know sometimes he can’t hear them. I am pretty sure he couldn’t hear what she said, yet he smiled and nodded. As brilliant as he is, he sometimes muddles through daily life situations and certainly does things his own way.

His mother, my dear late Grandma Burke, did not have a lot of gray hair, but I guarantee you every one of them can be attributed to my dad. Raising him he was a combination of smart, mischievous, and stubborn, and his parents were either proud or worried. That is how I feel now, proud and worried.  He knows I am not happy about this trip, and every trip I  hope for his safe return and that it will be his last. Being in such great health both mentally and physically, I don’t understand why he would risk any of his golden years.  As a teenager you think you are invincible, but good grief, he’s 74! I keep telling him to write a book. I have to admit that last New Year’s Eve when his shoe got caught in a grate and he tore his achilles, I wasn’t all that upset (sorry dad). I secretly thanked my grandma in heaven for any strings she pulled on that one. In the scheme of life, not a  huge injury, but just enough to maybe hang up those crampons. But he is stubborn and determined so here we go again. Following your dreams, keeping him young, yada yada,yada, I don’t like it. He is a wonderful patriarch to our family and loved dearly by all of us, so I want him around for a lot longer.

Thank you for keeping him in your prayers over the next weeks.

Lisa

papa bbq3

Family Send-off BBQ

Family Send-off BBQ

Family Send-off BBQ

Papa saying thanks & goodby to his Training Partner after the bike rid

Papa saying thanks & goodbye to his Training Partner after the bike ride (little did he know his flight was in the air)

Papa and Grammy

Papa and Grammy

Saying goodbye to Grammy

Saying goodbye to Grammy

About to leave

About to leave

He's off!

He’s off!