Happy Father's Day to my late dad
I spent today quietly remembering my dad as this the first Father's Day without him. It's impossible not to think of him on this day no matter where I look, whether at the store, surfing online on the web, or just simply watching TV, because I'm reminded of this day from others' who are either fathers themselves or have one that's still here. At this time of the year, I used to go to the card shop and pick up something for him to let Dad know that I was still thinking of him. This year, I felt as if I wanted to go and get a card for him, but reality set in and I knew that he had already passed late last summer. I found it very difficult to go to the mall this past week, seeing all sorts of reminders about Father's Day.
This is one of those pivotal days in my dad's life that he would go spend a weekend with my mom in Atlantic City, taking in a show and dumping quarters in the slot machines. I knew Dad always looked forward to traveling east to the World's Famous Playground. Mom would always tell the story about how Dad would plunk down quarters on one machine at any given casino while she would try one spot, give up and try another. But Dad wasn't one of those people who would "spy" on someone haplessly losing money on a machine and then "hop" onto it once that person gave up on it. One late night, my mom got tired and retreated to the hotel room, while Dad continued to play on with the one-armed bandit. Just 10 minutes later, as described by my mom, Dad returned to the hotel room with a smile that probably had to be surgically removed. Mom had asked him why he was grinning. He told her that he just won $1200.00!
Dad was also a brilliant architect; the firm he worked with in Philadelphia was responsible for designing Citizen's Bank Park, home of the Philadelphia Phillies. One of his close co-workers, Pete, described him as a mentor to the young and lesser experienced architects. Though he lacked in computer skills, his drawings were in such great detail that a computer could never replicate what he could accomplish. Pretty amazing for someone who could have retired 8 or 9 years ago, but decided to continue doing what he loved. And all that time, my brothers and I always thought he was just the old guy that hung around the office all day, eating donuts and street vendor hot dogs and soft pretzels.
Happy Father's Day, Dad...you are truly missed.
This is one of those pivotal days in my dad's life that he would go spend a weekend with my mom in Atlantic City, taking in a show and dumping quarters in the slot machines. I knew Dad always looked forward to traveling east to the World's Famous Playground. Mom would always tell the story about how Dad would plunk down quarters on one machine at any given casino while she would try one spot, give up and try another. But Dad wasn't one of those people who would "spy" on someone haplessly losing money on a machine and then "hop" onto it once that person gave up on it. One late night, my mom got tired and retreated to the hotel room, while Dad continued to play on with the one-armed bandit. Just 10 minutes later, as described by my mom, Dad returned to the hotel room with a smile that probably had to be surgically removed. Mom had asked him why he was grinning. He told her that he just won $1200.00!
Dad was also a brilliant architect; the firm he worked with in Philadelphia was responsible for designing Citizen's Bank Park, home of the Philadelphia Phillies. One of his close co-workers, Pete, described him as a mentor to the young and lesser experienced architects. Though he lacked in computer skills, his drawings were in such great detail that a computer could never replicate what he could accomplish. Pretty amazing for someone who could have retired 8 or 9 years ago, but decided to continue doing what he loved. And all that time, my brothers and I always thought he was just the old guy that hung around the office all day, eating donuts and street vendor hot dogs and soft pretzels.
Happy Father's Day, Dad...you are truly missed.
posted by Mel at 12:09 PM
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