Note to my Dad
Not sure when I wrote this to Dad, but it was likely after 2013 and certainly before his passing in 2016. It was one Christmas. Was heart felt and I am glad I kept it.
It is funny, but my father and I never hugged a single time until I was 21 (in 1973) and it was just after the funeral for his father. I was between cars, at the time, and heading back to the University of Florida. he dropped me off at a bus station. We hugged. It was the first time we had every done that.
It was a “dude” thing.
Since that time, in 1973, I hugged Dad countless times. Every time we saw each other. And I hug my own sons every time I see them. There are never enough hugs in this world. And we only get a finite number of them with any one being.
BTW, the reference to my ring, is about a ring he designed for me in 1966. Here is a link to that post
Here is my letter:
Dad,
Enjoyed talking to you this morning. I keep realizing, as time rolls on, how an amazingly great friend you have been to me – beyond the roll of father. I count myself among the luckier people around to have gotten you as my father. I’m afraid it was the roll of the dice – and I lucked out. Through it all was and is your setting of a good example – more important than, really, anything you said. It was what you did and what you tried to make real to me and what you revealed to me in your living that showed me the important aspects in life. It made me, or at least, confirmed to me who I am, and though I’ve run with the ball pretty well over the years, you helped set the stage for me. What more can a dad do? What more SHOULD he do?
I‘ve seen you in good and bad times – and your nobility and uptone views of life have always been an inspiration. I look at this ring I wear, often. Those words you, as a 36 year old dad, considered amoung the most important – giving those to your sons. You were right. Those are parts of a Code of Honor to me. My appreciation for those words, and what they symbolize, have grown over the years. I will never not wear that ring. The safire is cracking – but it will remain. I might get it fixed so as not to loose it. But it stays.
Many thanks. You show an appreciation for me that few others do – and I really appreciate that too. Not too many will come listen to me play the piano :-)).
I want you around for years and years and years. You ain’t done, yet, showing me how to live life with interest and vigor. I appreciate that more than you know – that spark that you ALWAYS have in LIVING. I aspire to be and to have that. And I am there for you – if you ever need me.
Anyway, was thinking these things and wanted to tell them to you this Christmas season. There is no one who I love and appreciate more.
Ken