Thoughts of My Father

I went to visit my father's gravesite this morning. I was away before Rosh Hashanah so today was my first chance to get there.

If all goes well, the CD that I produced in his memory will be ready on Wednesday. While I am happy and relieved that the project is finally complete (and that it has come out about as well as I could have expected), I am also happy about it for another reason.

My father, z'l, was a very vibrant, active, physical man. He swam and walked for miles almost every day. He ice skated like men 30 years his junior. Until his last few years when Parkinson's began to wear him down. So, unfortunately, my last memories of my dad are of an old man who could barely walk. (Nevertheless, my father never gave in; he fought the illness and continued his physical activiy until it was impossible. Indeed, the owners of the gym to which he belonged called us to ask us that he stop going. They felt it was very dangerous for him to continue going on the treadmill in his diminished state).

What makes me happy about the CD is that we've included in the insert three pictures that depict my father during his more robust days. Because of the CD, I have been able to replace the images in my head of my dad as a dimished old man with the images of what he really was: A vibrant, happy, active man with a constant smile on his face.

Gmar Chasimah Tova to all my readers. I ask mechilah for those I certainly have offended through my words.