“I just moved out here a few months ago and I am starting to get the hang of it. I just graduated school in May, and I am an engineer working for the Navy. I grew up in Wyoming and went to New York for school.
“My Dad came all the way out for my graduation, and that meant a lot. My family, we don’t talk a lot. It’s not like we have a bad relationship or anything, it’s just that we are not expressive. A part of the reason we don’t talk a lot is that my mother got sick and passed away in my Freshman year in college. It was like a big lead up to that for two or three years. That whole time was pretty rough. We all kind of became independent and dealt with it on our own and internalized it. My mom was the most social of all of us. She got us involved in a lot of things and out to social events. She got us to do things we normally wouldn’t do.
“My dad was very different before my mom got sick He was pretty depressed for a few years after she passed away. He has since met someone and she just moved in. She actually was in Wyoming because her sister had cancer, so they have that in common. He is doing a lot better now which is good to see.
“My dad and I do not communicate a lot, but I will call him from time to time, and we are happy to be related.”