Happy Birthday, Daddy!!!
This is my dad, a lovely man and the Best Father Ever. I am a bit biased, I realize that, but that's my truth :). This image was when my 3 younger children, my brother and I visited him on a beautiful spring day in 2005, and we went to play on the playground behind his apartment. We had a blast and none of us fell off the swings!!!
Here we are with half of us in shadow and my brother looking intense ... needless to say, the photographer was not on his game, as we should have been facing another direction:
I have the fondest memories of visiting him in San Francisco, playing dodge ball with my brother, Dickie, my sister, Cherie and the neighborhood kids on the hill where he lived, and having to run down that hill when we missed our target and the ball went rolling. He used to love to drive us down Lombard Street, known as the "crookedest street," which boasts 8 hairpin turns, and, sadly, might soon cost money to visit:
https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/lombard-street-fee-san-francisco/index.html
Another great memory for me is entering the city from Oakland, and being absolutely fascinated with the ladies dancing in the small, glass boxes along the Golden Gate Bridge (or across from it, I'm not sure of the exact logistics), and being told they were "go-go dancers." What a concept, eh? Somewhat similar to "Laugh-In" and just as spirited and larger than life ... at least that's how I remember them from a wee, little girl's perspective.
Today, November 10, would have been his 87th birthday:
I miss you Daddy ... keep my spot warm for me ... I'll see you soon.
As is my way, I want to post this birthday wish on the date of his birth, on 11/10, at 11:10, and that's exactly what I'll do.
In honor of this great man, who I love and miss dearly, here's another poem I wrote years ago, that I think fits the occasion:
Imagination's Dreams
How do my thoughts begin
To tell you of the place I've been?
Where castles feed on fairytales
And purple magic casts it's spell?
And dewdrops grin with sprightly glee
While toadstools watch mischievously.
Rainbow music glistening bright
Sojourn to the dawn's midnight.
Where do my thought's begin
To shine on space I've never been?
Where myriad sprays of candlelight
Sparkle through to capture sight.
Harmonizing merrily
As horse's manes flow in the sea ...
Of all the many visions seen,
That stir imagination's dreams.
AWBM Blog Post #020 | 10 November 2019