I'm going to digress a bit here today and give acknowledgment to a special man who was in my life for 36 yrs and our time was cut way to short. And I'd have to say that he still "graces" my presence in a spiritual sense everyday...my dad. It's been 23 yrs. since he died. Today would have been his 94 birthday had he lived. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think of him (and mom) and wish he (they) were still here in the flesh. I went to my great nephew's baseball game yesterday. A savvy group of 10 yr. olds trying to make their mark in the world of little league baseball, making stellar throws from what seems to be an ocean of dirt over to first base. A bit of nostalgia overcame me as I recalled Paul and me having catch in our driveway and his meager attempts to show me how to hit a baseball; something I already knew how to do with great ease. Paul didn't have an innate ability but he did have passion about showing his only son the "ropes" of "keep your eye on the ball, Dan". He would often duck as I swung feverishly and whistled one by his head. I mentioned in an earlier post that we had watched "Shane" the night before he died from his hospital room as his body raked with cancer that had invaded it; had somehow betrayed him. I remembered the eulogy that I delivered at his funeral and the lasting words that still ring in my ear....."he didn't lose his life to his alcoholism, cancer didn't beat him, he just ran out of time". I think of the evocative words calling out to Ray Kinsella from "Field of Dreams", "if you build it, he will come", and the mesmerizing, "ease his pain",. I hope in a small way, I eased my dad's pain.
Love,
Your son
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