Dads
I watched the character of Melvin Porter (Ossie Davis) on the L Word die slightly tentatively. It was so familiar. Or, it would have been, had I been there when my dad died.
I watched Bette reading to her father in the hospital bed, and I thought, "I should have done that." My dad would have liked that.
I've talked about my dad here before. He was an educated man. He liked opera and Shakespeare and he thought cable television was so cool because he could watch Atlanta Braves games.
He was inconsistent when I visited him in the nursing home. Sometimes he would know who I was, other times he thought he was back in World War II. Alot like Bette's dad, actually.
My dad would have really liked me to sit by his bed and read literature to him. But I wasn't there.
In the show, the characters sat around and discussed their dads. "Describe your dad, one word" they said, sipping their Dos Equis.
"Distant"
"Dependable"
"invisible"
"Bitter"
"Dying"
My dad? Old-school.
Ossie Davis died before the episode of the L Word aired. They dedicated the show to his memory.
My dad died before I grew up and got my shit together. I dedicate my life to him.
