Thanks for your kind words gman007. It's really hard not to feel badly about my Dad's money. I know how hard he worked, and his father worked, to save as much as they possibly could. I think my Dad had hopes someday of doing some traveling after he retired with my mother, but she was long gone by then. She died at age 60 from cirrhosis of the liver - she was an alcoholic - and their relationship was pure hell, for them and for me.
Life is strange .... you never know what's coming down the road at you. Probably good we don't or we'd want to "check out" immediately.
abby