Happy Birthday, Dad

Today, August 5, is my father's birthday.  If he were alive he would be 85 years old.  Instead he died 26 years ago, leaving my brother and sisters without parents..  Even though only my youngest sister was still at home, all of us ended up orphaned.  We miss you, Dad.  So many memories, so many thoughts on this day of birthdays in the past when you went out for ice cream with your birthday "twin", Joey, at cake, listened to us sing Happy Birthday with a gusto that, hopefully, made up for the tunelessness.

As I think of my father, I remember my grandmother telling me that one of my father's teachers told her that my father was the "nicest boy she ever taught" in school.  He was nice.  He was basically a moral, ethical and just plain nice perosn.  He had an outrageous sense of humor and we would all collapse in fits of giggles over stories he told, over he and my mother and stories about him.  He was funny, handsome, bright, nice and exciting.  I am pretty sure that it is from him that I learned to love the thrill of the unknown, the unexpected, the new, the the living on  the edge.  It was from my mother that I learned to do it with a certain amount of grace and beauty, but the thrill was from Dad.

My father was the youngest alderman in the history of the state of Illinois.  He was 20 years old when he was elected and 21 when he took office.  He hadn't learned how to play the "game" yet, however, and when his youthful zeal and enthusiasm and just plain naivete worked to his disadvantage and he was a one term alderman.  He lost his zest for politics then but not his interest.  I was born during his short-lived political "career" and don't remember it, but I know that as an infant and young child I was in Who's Who in Illinois. 

I remember when my brother was born and when all my sisters were.  I remember where we lived, my family and friends as well as my parent's friends.  I remember the different jobs my father had and even the few my mother did. I remember my childhood.  I remember my parents, my Dad, and I miss them. 

Happy Birthday, Dad.  I love you.