Baseball Toaster was unplugged on February 4, 2009.
It's funny the way things work sometimes. On this date last year my father died. January 15th also happens to be my brother Ben's birthday. He turns 34 today, which also happens to be the day that his wife, Erin, is going to deliver their second child. Talk about the life cycle. They couldn't have planned it to work out like this. I'm so happy for my brother, and I'm thinking about my pop. So, here's raising a toast to the birth of my niece, and while I'm at it, I'll spill a little iced coffee on the floor for the old man.
I lost my dad last year as well. Tough, really tough. My oldest boy is named after him though. I can't tell you the number of times I've said something to him and realized it was something my dad said to me long ago !
This Fri is my folks' 50th wedding anniv - I'm heading to FL to hang/cheer up my mom and root for the Jints with her and my oldest.....
a) "yes dad I went to church today"
b) always talk about the Yanks
c) Use the $100 Rule- that is- nothing cost more than $100: If my old school Italian dad knew what I spent on things like running shoes, stereo equip, mountain bikes, skiis, etc - he'd go nuts, therefore I would always tell him it cost 85 bucks or so.
d) when in doubt, talk about the weather, my kids or the Yanks
And now I'm a parent and it comes full cirlce.
10 Nice comments, Joe.
The other thing, is that my relationship with him was dramatically different than his relationship with my twin sister and younger brother. I guess it was an oldest son thing, but he tried to live vicariously through me during my formative years, determined to correct the mistakes he had made through me.
I can't think of any father-son books off the top of my head...there's always "Field of Dreams." Lol. (Joke, just a joke, although my pop never failed to tear up at the end of that movie...since he's been gone, I've seen the movie, and it didn't make me choke up, but I did get a little teary thinking about how it got to my dad...)
My wife's mother died last week at 92+. Her dad, 87+, sits in a hospital mourning, awaiting his inevitable death. Married 62 years. She had them around for a long time. As Billy Pilgrim would have said, "so it goes."
As my favorite Yankee fan (a short list) once put it:
"And so it goes, and so must you soon, I suppose..."
The priest at my dad's service said it was ok for my mom to "round up" 49+ years of marriage to an even 50. I thought that was a nice thought.
That generation of couple is very different from now. My dad did all the driving, shopping, grilling...my mom did all the cooking, cleaning. They BOTH raised us "kids" however with their own way of care, discipline and love. A tough act to follow as I'm finding out.
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