I went over to check on my father, he was just sitting on the couch, gazing into a blank television screen.

My entrance perked some life back into him, so he started flipping through the channels, finally landing on the 1956 movie “Back From Eternity”.

We sat together in silence, watching the black and white movie, my mind racing through all the movies we’ve seen together over the years. Old movies, new movies, bad movies, great movies. Fuck, I was even named after a movie. GWTW was having a big revival in the fall of 1974, and it was decided that night if I was born a girl, to name me Tara…

I made my father take me to see E.T. seven times in the movie theater when it was released back in 1982. I don’t remember how many times we saw Superman, or Raiders of the Lost Ark. Or Disney reruns. Sitting and smoking lots of cigarettes. My father even took me to see Gremlins, who knew then here in Ottawa seeing Gremlins would lead me on a path to where I am today…

He’s suffering more and more in silence…it’s almost like he isn’t here all of the time, he’s somewhere else…

A better place, I hope, with girls and booze and drugs and rock n roll. All his true loves in one spot , wrapped up into one.

My father had a little heaven on earth at times in his life…hopefully, it’ll be even better on the other side.