dad
Today is my dad's birthday, so my sister and I are going out to dinner to celebrate, because we miss him a lot. Here's a tribute I wrote a while ago. Happy Birthday, Dad. You would love, love, love your hilarious granddaughter June (who looks a lot like little me in that photo!). Also, love that photobombing kid in the background--great smile!
Win-It Wednesday will be back next week. Mwah!
I promise that Photo Friday will not become "Old Family Photo Friday," but I had to just add these black-and-whites that I came across recently in a shoebox....My grandmother Carol at her gradution:
My dad, center, on a ship (this was likely during his ROTC college years... love that hat!):
Don't you just love opening up a box and finding treasures like these?
Happy Friday! I'm baking gingerbread cookies (in the most fashionable apron I own). You?
So tomorrow is Father's Day, and it's actually the 6th anniversary of my dad's death. Yeah, Father's Day--what a day to go. Time has mostly been healing, and I have the best memories a daughter could have. So bear with me if I ramble for this Photo entry?In the summer, my family always visited to the cemetery in Three Churches, WVA (where Dad is buried today). Here's one of him pointing out gravestones of relatives with me in his arms. Dave once said, "You have a lot of childhood photos in this graveyard." And I said, "Well, sure! It's a family reunion in there."
A few weeks ago, I got an email from the office of my dad's college roommate, Ralph Nader. He invited me and Dave to a dinner at Princeton on the weekend of my dad's 55th reunion. Of course, we had to go. We heard Cory Booker, the mayor of Newark, speak -- he was the most inspiring person I've ever met in person. Then I snapped a photo with Ralph, who spent a few minutes talking to me and telling me how much he misses Dad.
I also got to meet a classmate of my dad's. Oral is blind, and he was blind when he went to Princeton! Talk about gumption. He's a lawyer, and he's also a sweet guy. I teared up a little during a slideshow of old classmate photos where I saw my dad, and Oral must have heard me sniffling. He leaned over and said, "What's wrong?" I told him I'd just seen a picture of my dad. He said, "I can still remember your father's voice." And I thought that was the greatest thing anybody could have said. Thanks, Oral.
Here's just one last photo, taken a few years before Dad died. He's aboard his and my mom's last sailboat, "Innisfree." It's a big inspiration for my new book, which is appropriate since it was Dad who was the writer.
Happy Father's Day. Hug your dad!