Thoughts About My Father
Posting on this account because I can't seem to get into my main one....and away we go.
My father, who turned eighty this past year, is very sick. Right now, he's hospitalized in a VA facility here in CT. I don't know how much longer he'll last, as he is having trouble keeping food down. I wanted to post a few thoughts about him while I have the chance....consider this a eulogy of sorts.
Dad was a strong, hard-working Irishman, who worked in construction building houses before he got into the real estate business. He worked for over fifty years as one of the best agents in Fairfield, CT. Indeed, he won many awards and accolades for his service to the industry. He was tough, but fair and loving. I can still remember him playing catch with me as a little boy, or working in the garage at his Mill Plain Road home. Whether it was chopping firewood, trying to fix the vacuum cleaner (ask Mom about that one....ha!), or going into the office to sell houses, my father always gave his all to any job he took on. He instilled the value of hard work in myself and my three brothers; it is a lesson that lives on to this day.
My father had many great qualities about him, including a warm and generous heart. Although it is cliche, it's often been said that he would "give the shirt off his back" to help a friend. And even though he didn't get too emotional, when he did, he wore his heart on his sleeve. Dad was a deeply religious man as well. Before cancer took its toll on him (don't smoke, kids), he used to be a regular at Sunday Mass in St. Thomas' Church. I recall him welling up with tears every time "Ave Maria" was played. Dad said it reminded him of his mother, who once sang in the church choir. He loved to swim; every August, we would travel as a family to Lake George, NY, where Dad would relax and take much needed vacations. Above all, Dad was an old-school kind of guy, who left a enormous legacy for my brothers and myself to follow.
One of my earliest memories of my father is how he would take me on his knee at night, reciting poems and singing songs. Some of his favorites were "The Face on the Barroom Floor", "Gunga Din", "Don't Quit", and anything written by Rudyard Kipling. If I may, I'd like to read a short two stanzas of a poem he often recited to me (full text of the poem is at http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/if). It is entitled "If", and was written by the aforementioned Kipling.
"If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings,
And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings---nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And---which is more---you'll be a Man, my son!"
My father taught me how to be a man, which is something I will forever be grateful for. Thank you Dad, and Godspeed. I will miss you very much; be sure to put in a good word for me with St. Peter when you get to those Pearly Gates.
Revelation 21:4 - "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away".
My father, who turned eighty this past year, is very sick. Right now, he's hospitalized in a VA facility here in CT. I don't know how much longer he'll last, as he is having trouble keeping food down. I wanted to post a few thoughts about him while I have the chance....consider this a eulogy of sorts.
Dad was a strong, hard-working Irishman, who worked in construction building houses before he got into the real estate business. He worked for over fifty years as one of the best agents in Fairfield, CT. Indeed, he won many awards and accolades for his service to the industry. He was tough, but fair and loving. I can still remember him playing catch with me as a little boy, or working in the garage at his Mill Plain Road home. Whether it was chopping firewood, trying to fix the vacuum cleaner (ask Mom about that one....ha!), or going into the office to sell houses, my father always gave his all to any job he took on. He instilled the value of hard work in myself and my three brothers; it is a lesson that lives on to this day.
My father had many great qualities about him, including a warm and generous heart. Although it is cliche, it's often been said that he would "give the shirt off his back" to help a friend. And even though he didn't get too emotional, when he did, he wore his heart on his sleeve. Dad was a deeply religious man as well. Before cancer took its toll on him (don't smoke, kids), he used to be a regular at Sunday Mass in St. Thomas' Church. I recall him welling up with tears every time "Ave Maria" was played. Dad said it reminded him of his mother, who once sang in the church choir. He loved to swim; every August, we would travel as a family to Lake George, NY, where Dad would relax and take much needed vacations. Above all, Dad was an old-school kind of guy, who left a enormous legacy for my brothers and myself to follow.
One of my earliest memories of my father is how he would take me on his knee at night, reciting poems and singing songs. Some of his favorites were "The Face on the Barroom Floor", "Gunga Din", "Don't Quit", and anything written by Rudyard Kipling. If I may, I'd like to read a short two stanzas of a poem he often recited to me (full text of the poem is at http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/if). It is entitled "If", and was written by the aforementioned Kipling.
"If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings,
And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings---nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And---which is more---you'll be a Man, my son!"
My father taught me how to be a man, which is something I will forever be grateful for. Thank you Dad, and Godspeed. I will miss you very much; be sure to put in a good word for me with St. Peter when you get to those Pearly Gates.
Revelation 21:4 - "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away".