A Bad Day

So this am I took D1 to UM for a medical check. Thankfully she's great.

I drove her home, and then hopped MetroRail to get to my office, so I could drive home with D2. We chatted happily about Wifey's latest misadventure, involving a medical procedure prep gone horribly wrong and resulting in 6 hours at Baptist Hospital and 4 stitches over her eye. More on that later...

I reflected on this day, July 14, as I always do. It was the day my father died.

I adored him and loved him as my girls do me. One moment I was a son; the next I had to become my family's Daddy.

I guess I grew up very fast that day and the rest of the Summer.

I'm blessed that my girls don't have to.

I plan to stick around. We'll see...

I turn 49 this weekend. I think about my father at my age. It was 1968. His two girls had graduated college, and his little boy was 7. He was working hard, and finally seeing real financial success.

The following Summer, after he turned 50, he'd travel on an airplane for the first time in his life -- a family vacation to Israel. It was a big deal to fly to the Mideast those days, particularly in our solidly middle class neighborhood.

We were the first on our block to take a jet plane trip, as far as I knew...

I'm sure my Dad felt young and strong. I don't imagine he'd have thought he'd only be given another 14 years on this planet.

Although, the Summer he died, he DID seem like an old man at 63.

I look at my law partner, about to turn 60. He still dates young, beautiful women, and goes to Ft. Lauderdale bars and restaurants. He doesn't seem like an old man at all.

So, I miss my father this day as I do each day. I wish he'd have met the Ds. I'd love to see his reaction that we have a black president. He was always a Liberal, but I don't think he'd have believed Obama would have won.

Again, I plan to hang around a good while longer, but just in case, I'll hedge my bet: no "I wish I coulds" or "If things were different, I'd..." from me.

I'm grabbing while the grabbings good.

I miss you, Dad.