<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.6px;"><span class="s2" style="line-height: 24px;">Final Stamp</span></div><p class="s3" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.6px;"><span style="line-height: 21.6px;"> </span></p><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.6px;"><span class="s4" style="line-height: 21.6px;">My Father’s passport will expire in 90 days.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.6px;"><span class="s4" style="line-height: 21.6px;">He will not need it anymore. </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.6px;"><font><span class="s4" style="line-height: 21.6px;">At 98, his </span><span class="s4" style="line-height: 21.6px;">recent </span><span class="s4" style="line-height: 21.6px;">trip to St. John’s Home </span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.6px;"><font><span class="s4" style="line-height: 21.6px;">Will be</span><span class="s4" style="line-height: 21.6px;"> </span><span class="s4" style="line-height: 21.6px;">the</span><span class="s4" style="line-height: 21.6px;"> terminal for </span><span class="s4" style="line-height: 21.6px;">his</span><span class="s4" style="line-height: 21.6px;"> final flight.</span></font></div><p class="s3" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.6px;"><span style="line-height: 21.6px;"> </span></p><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.6px;"><font><span class="s4" style="line-height: 21.6px;">He </span><span class="s4" style="line-height: 21.6px;">was 89 years old when he applied for </span><span class="s4" style="line-height: 21.6px;">the passport.</span><span class="s4" style="line-height: 21.6px;"></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.6px;"><font><span class="s4" style="line-height: 21.6px;">His previous </span><span class="s4" style="line-height: 21.6px;">one</span><span class="s4" style="line-height: 21.6px;"> had expired 27 years before. </span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.6px;"><font><span class="s4" style="line-height: 21.6px;">H</span><span class="s4" style="line-height: 21.6px;">e applie</span><span class="s4" style="line-height: 21.6px;">d for his first passport </span><span class="s4" style="line-height: 21.6px;">to travel to</span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.6px;"><font><span class="s4" style="line-height: 21.6px;">Algeria, </span><span class="s4" style="line-height: 21.6px;">Tangier</span><span class="s4" style="line-height: 21.6px;">, Korea, Portugal, Japan and the United Kingdom. </span></font></div><p class="s3" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.6px;"><span style="line-height: 21.6px;"> </span></p><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.6px;"><span class="s4" style="line-height: 21.6px;">The colorful and often exotic entry and exit stamping</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.6px;"><font><span class="s4" style="line-height: 21.6px;">Of</span><span class="s4" style="line-height: 21.6px;"> each government fill the first </span><span class="s4" style="line-height: 21.6px;">fifteen</span><span class="s4" style="line-height: 21.6px;"> pages</span><span class="s4" style="line-height: 21.6px;">.</span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.6px;"><font><span class="s4" style="line-height: 21.6px;">May of 1976 </span><span class="s4" style="line-height: 21.6px;">is the last stamp</span><span class="s4" style="line-height: 21.6px;">. </span></font></div><p class="s3" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.6px;"><span style="line-height: 21.6px;"> </span></p><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.2;"><span class="s4" style="line-height: 21.6px;">The next four pages are blank, </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.2;"><font><span class="s4" style="line-height: 21.6px;">As</span><span class="s4" style="line-height: 21.6px;"> are all the crisp empty pages </span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.2;"><font><span class="s4" style="line-height: 21.6px;">O</span><span class="s4" style="line-height: 21.6px;">f </span><span class="s4" style="line-height: 21.6px;">th</span><span class="s4" style="line-height: 21.6px;">is</span><span class="s4" style="line-height: 21.6px;"> </span><span class="s4" style="line-height: 21.6px;">soon to expire</span><span class="s4" style="line-height: 21.6px;"> last</span><span class="s4" style="line-height: 21.6px;"> passport. </span></font></div><p class="s5" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.2;"><span style="line-height: 21.6px;"> </span></p><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.2;"><span class="s4" style="line-height: 21.6px;">We do not know where he was planning to go </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.2;"><font><span class="s4" style="line-height: 21.6px;">I</span><span class="s4" style="line-height: 21.6px;">n August of 2004.</span></font></div><p class="s5" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.2;"><span style="line-height: 21.6px;"> </span></p><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.2;"><font><span class="s4" style="line-height: 21.6px;">We often were unaware of where he was headed</span><span class="s4" style="line-height: 21.6px;">. </span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.2;"><font><span class="s4" style="line-height: 21.6px;">Taking-</span><span class="s4" style="line-height: 21.6px;">off was his way to cope with life</span><span class="s4" style="line-height: 21.6px;">’s</span><span class="s4" style="line-height: 21.6px;"> pressures. </span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.2;"><span class="s4" style="line-height: 21.6px;">I doubt he ever knew the destination </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.2;"><font><span class="s4" style="line-height: 21.6px;">T</span><span class="s4" style="line-height: 21.6px;">o be </span><span class="s4" style="line-height: 21.6px;">determined </span><span class="s4" style="line-height: 21.6px;">mostly </span><span class="s4" style="line-height: 21.6px;">by his exhaustion.</span></font></div><p class="s5" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.2;"><span style="line-height: 21.6px;"> </span></p><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.2;"><span class="s4" style="line-height: 21.6px;">Travel was his drug of choice. </span></div><p class="s5" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.2;"><span style="line-height: 21.6px;"> </span></p><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.2;"><span class="s4" style="line-height: 21.6px;">Now stronger drugs try to calm him. </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.2;"><span class="s4" style="line-height: 21.6px;">The clock and a pace-maker monitor </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.2;"><span class="s4" style="line-height: 21.6px;">His departure time.</span></div><p class="s5" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.2;"><span style="line-height: 21.6px;"> </span></p><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.2;"><span class="s4" style="line-height: 21.6px;">In the waiting room</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.2;"><span class="s4" style="line-height: 21.6px;">We pray the passport does not expire first </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.2;"><font><span class="s4" style="line-height: 21.6px;">A</span><span class="s4" style="line-height: 21.6px;">nd that </span><span class="s4" style="line-height: 21.6px;">hi</span><span class="s4" style="line-height: 21.6px;">s</span><span class="s4" style="line-height: 21.6px;"> flight is smooth.</span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.2;"><font><span class="s4" style="line-height: 21.6px;"><br></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 21.6px;"><span style="line-height: 21.6px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>- Thomas O’Leary</span></div></div></body></html>