The Jones Family circa 1973, just before the economy became like it is today.

The Old Man Who Felt Irrelevant and Died

Losing relevancy is an epidemic we know little about until we live it.

This “old man’s” name will always be Clifford Jones because the story I'm about to share with you is about my father. He died in 2014. It was the sudden death kind of death. He died of a heart attack. But mostly, he died of a broken heart.

My dad was a modern-day mystic, even though he would never admit it. My father taught me cool stuff like it's okay for men to cry. Another thing dad taught me, my younger sister, and my brother is that "honest is the best policy." I believed him until I was honest with the police the last time I got arrested. That explains why I taught our two grown sons, "Honest is the best policy unless you're getting arrested by the police."

Dad’s ashes sit in what is likely a recycled urn buried on the back shelf of my kid brother's closet. God rest his loving soul. He was a lover. My mom dumped him when the last kid was on his way to college as if we wouldn't care if they divorced because we could handle the truth better if we were all older. It's a crappy theory.

Broken Heart #1

The divorce was the first major thing that broke my dad's heart. The other big thing that crushed him at a soul level was his inability to crack…