A Grand Dad

Today is the day we set aside specifically to honor fathers.  My dad will have been gone 28 years this summer, so over half of my life has gone by since I lasted celebrated this special day with him.  My dad was a great guy.  Even as a teenager, I thought I had a "cool" dad.  He was fun and interesting.  He always took interest in me as a person.  We had deep conversations. We even had father-daughter dates all the way up to the summer he died, when we would go out to dinner, just the two of us.  I was so lucky to have such a wonderful father, especially because sadly, he didn't have his own father long enough as a role model.  From everything everyone said, Grandpa Frank was a kind, gentle, likeable person.  He was a photographer and a musician.  Unfortunately, Grandpa Frank died from what appeared to have been a brain aneurysm when he was only 41, leaving behind a young wife and four children.  My dad, age 7, was the only son.  Despite the disadvantage of not having his dad present for most of his growing up years, my dad just seemed to know how to be a great father.  As I look today at the photos of him as a child, a young man, a young husband and father, I think of all of the great memories with joy and some longing that we couldn't have had more time together to create even more memories. To Dad and all of the other great dads out there, Happy Father's Day.