DAD AT 100

My father would be 100 years old on November 2. He was born in 1914, just as WW1 was beginning. And died November 25, 1980, a young 66. Look at all the wars he lived through, all the inventions, all the technology advancements. Like all of us, he had his strengths and weaknesses. As I remember him on his 100th, I would rather focus on this strengths. He was a WW2 veteran,  a very handsome man and in his younger days had a  great physique. He was a great outdoorsman, and an excellent shot with the shotgun during Deer Week. And he was the unofficial arm wrestling champion of the Cape, besting  a fisherman from Provincetown, who had arms like Popeye, at the 28 Club in Dennisport.

And Dad was a great story teller. At our annual family reunions on the Cape each summer, everyone would gather around Dad as he told family stories and history and did his famous St Patrick paper trick that no one has ever been able to figure out to this day! He knew all the family history and would tell us all about our grandparents, great grandparents, aunts and uncles. I wish I had tape recorded all that history.

As Dad got older he let himself go and gained weight and came down with Type 2 diabetes and ended up taking a shot of insulin every day. His health got worse and eventually he lost toes and then part of his foot. Complications set in and he passed on, 2 days before Thanksgiving. I still remember that entire sequence. Dad died on Tuesday, late that afternoon we are making arrangements with the funeral director, Wednesday I am picking out a casket, Thursday we have a subdued turkey dinner, Friday is the wake, Saturday is the funeral, Sunday we drove back to Connecticut, and Monday I was back at work!! I remember sitting in my office, thinking "what the heck just happened. A few days ago I had a father and now I don't"

When my mother died several years ago, we were going through her papers and found a letter I had written to her a few months after Dad died. It was full of the usual news about the kids and how work was going etc, but I closed with a few thoughts about Dad and here is what I said. They applied back then and still do today:

"I was thinking of Dad this past Wednesday, Feb 25, 3 months already since he died. Its hard to believe I don't have a father anymore. I wear his watch every day plus keep his last driver's license in my wallet and I have his army picture framed and on my bureau, plus I wear a lot of his clothes, so while he may be far away, he is still near. I hope he realized how much I loved him, thought about him, admired him and respected him, and especially for all he went through the past three years. And I hope he was proud of me and all I have accomplished and I hope I did the right things for him when we came to visit. I hope he realized how much I appreciated everything he did for me and I can't thank him enough."

Happy 100th Birthday Dad. I love you and miss you.