Happy Dad's Day to All!

This is the first Father's Day I've spent without my dad. It is sad, as I knew it would be.

Doesn't the sadness itself have value, in a way? I wouldn't want to live in a world where people "get over" the deaths of loved ones in a hurry, so that nothing can get in the way of their happiness. There is some danger that America itself will become such a world. We put too great a weight on avoiding negative emotions.

I would usually get in touch with Dad on this day. It had one great advantage over his birthday, for me: it is plainly marked in the calendar, every year. I am terrible at remembering dates of any sort and I would often be late for his birthday. I hope he realized that this was just a disability from which I suffered (and suffered, quite literally, more than anyone), that it was really nothing personal. Of course, now I will never know for sure.

Take it from me folks, don't miss out on any of the Dad's Days you have left. Eventually, sad to say, you'll have nothing left of him but memories.
_______________________________________
In the above photo, we are about to begin a 29 mile trip to the old Gold Rush mining town of Jenny Lind, a distance of 29 miles. I am on the far left. Yes, that is a lit cigarette in Dad's left hand. Yyyyyep.