Part 32: Short Blog on Riley's life in 1958

At the end of this journal entry, Riley was doing the math to see how old his son was. He left the family when Graham was four, the exact same age Richard was when he left that family.

It is Saturday, July 4th, 2020. I'm going to keep this blog short. There's something extra depressing about this weekend. So much bad news, both on a local level and on a national level.

I'm also realizing how entitled some people are–– beyond reason, almost in an unhinged way. It's sad to see people throwing fits about following protocols or wearing masks when it might save another person serious illness, or even death. I also wonder what will become of the theaters and music venues, and how people in those industries are getting by.

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I had guessed my father started the journal in the early 1990s, and it looks like he was trying to figure out how old Graham was, his son with Jo. The last entry is 1991 at the bottom of the page, shown above. I know he missed his kids. I know that my father had no idea how to stay in touch with his children once his relationship with his ex-wives/girlfriends ended, because one day I asked him about it.

"Dad, why...why once the relationship ended with the mothers, why didn't you try to maintain one with the kids?"

He was quiet for a long while, then finally he said, "I...I didn't know how to do that. I really just wouldn't know how to do it, that's all."

Oddly enough, that half-brother, Graham, lived in Tacoma, Washington at the same time as I did in 1989. At the time, I had no idea. I was there only a few months, but when we met years later, we made that discovery. His best friends also lived right next door to our half-brother Richard's best friends, which they figured out when they finally met. There were other connections, too. Life is funny like that. In my dark mood this weekend, I'll try to think about all the unexpected things that can happen.

Ok. That's it for this one.

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Next, blog 33: In 1987, Riley gets invited to a party at Burgess Meredith's Malibu house, but he has to go with no teeth.