I was thinking this weekend about Fathers in general and my own long gone father specifically . He died at 51, as I was finally just getting to know him as a person. He died on August 3, 1995. He had been sick for almost 7 years time but he finally was recovering, so this was like a bolt out of the sky. My aunt called me at 5 am to tell me he had a heart attack, my mom sobbing in the background. In a few hours I was 800 miles away in Michigan in shock. He was one of the most amazing people I have ever known. I think this is the first time I have said that anywhere. He had little formal education but was a quick study and learned anything he could. He was a fantastic story teller and had traveled the world as a young man and had seen everything at least once. He was a Conservative Jew who worked in a factory in Detroit, where most people had never even met a Jew before. He had a quick wit and boundless self confidence. He could speak to anyone anywhere and in five minutes be fast friends with anyone. He was shockingly strong and often won arm wrestling matches against other steel workers by just crushing their hand in his. He was a Vietnam veteran who told me he would buy a beer for his former foes and never looked back in anger. He wore a t-shirt that said "Participant South east Asia war games, second place" and would stare down any pseudo-patriot who questioned it. The last few years when he was sick and I was a teen were difficult for us both, and I always felt his disappointment, as he must have felt mine. I had not yet learned what it was to raise kids and give everything for them. He did not know what I would become, and I hope it would have pleased him. In the end when he died a huge part of me and who I was vanished forever, and I changed to fit that. I could not have asked for a better father.
I'm supposed to tie this to W/T, so here goes. While we have seen Tara's dad was a slime (oddly our own BBOvenguy was in the same congregation as the actor) and Ira Rosenberg was portrayed as somewhat of an absent minded bumbler, but I like to think Willow and her dad would have become closer, and I would love to think Tara's dad would realize what he had done.
Maybe as they grew , the fathers would have too.
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