Happy Birthday Dad!

I wake up at god only knows what hour. I eventually fall back asleep and wake around 7:00 am. As I wake up the second time I go over the things on my mental todo list.

Today would have been my father’s 73rd birthday. It’s over two years now since he passed away and I miss him just as much as always. When we lose someone dear, it’s as if the missing of that person becomes our day to day experience. It never goes away; we learn to live with it on a daily basis until we have integrated the loss into our reality. The missing remains but the horrible pain of the loss subsides.

As I went looking through the family photos for a picture of my father, I realized just exactly how few photos were taken of him. He was the man behind the camera and since he was the one taking most of the photos he rarely shows up in them. It’s mostly my Mom, brother and I that appear. I found this rare photo of him from 1955 at Niagara Falls that must have been taken by my mother shortly after their arrival to Canada. He was 25 years old then, his youthful adult life stretching out ahead of him, the shimmering potential of the future. In the photo it looks as if he may have been instructing my mother in how to take the picture. It’s almost 50 years ago. I Love Lucy was the number one sitcom. Time flies. Everyone dead was young once. Cheers.

Happy Birthday Dad!

And so a new day begins…