My father passed away in late April. He was a wonderful and complicated man. He spent his entire life reading and learning. And among many other things he was an inventor. He was a genius, and also very quirky. In addition to being brilliant, he was also a zealous doomsday prepper. This complicated his ability to focus on his inventions, which is a shame because he had some proven technologies he invented that never came to life.

I’m visiting my mom now, and one of my tasks is to sort through 500+ boxes of files my father amassed, in an oversized garage. He was quite OCD, and would make multiple copies of patents and other research, and put them in individual file folders and then put those in file folder holders, the kind with a metal edge to fit into filing cabinets. But he didn’t have enough filing cabinets so they went into boxes.

Most of what I’ve uncovered so far is going to the dump. It’s reams of paper copies of things anyone can find freely on the internet today. My dad filed them as a way to remember as opposed to a reference he continually went back to. That said, in the coming days I’ll share some stories about his amazing memory and ability to find files in unmarked boxes and file folders.

But for now I’ll be in a garage with hundreds at boxes looking through them and searching for some of his inventions. I think it would be sad to throw away things like the formula to mix diesel fuel and water in a perfect solution that runs more efficiently than diesel on its own… one of the inventions or rather discoveries of my dad.

It’s sad to think that his brilliance wasn’t shared with the world. I hope I can salvage something that can be valued and put to good use. I only have a few hundred boxes to search through, and I say ‘only’ with a lot of sarcasm. In many ways these boxes represent who my dad was far more than his ashes do. He was happiest when reading, printing, filing, and ultimately boxing everything he learned and found important.

And so into the boxes I go. It’s a daunting task, but I’m developing a rhythm, and will hopefully not have to spend my entire trip boxed up in the garage.