Toast to My Father

Since it's Father's Day tomorrow, I thought I would pay homage to the man responsible for my existence.

family photo

My dad is 80 years old. My mother and father have been married for 58 years. He always said, "When I get old and lose all my marbles, just build a fence around the house and let me loose." Thankfully, we have yet to build that fence.

In fact, his memory is better than mine.

His family came out west from Ontario by oxcart and settled in Saskatchewan. His father sold the farm and they moved out to Vancouver. He quit school in Grade 9, apprenticed as a carpenter, met and married my mother. His dream was to build and own his own Resort and 10 years later that dream came true. He struggled to provide for his growing family working two jobs until finally, in their 40's, managed to do well enough to semi-retire and travel - selflessly doing volunteer work all over the world. My folks continued with this work into their early 70s.

I believe if you were to ask him if he was satisfied with the way his life went, he would tell you with no hesitation - a hearty YES. And, although he has Parkinson's, he still gets around quite well - mows his lawn in the summer and shovels their driveway in the winter - all 700 near-vertical feet of it. He still has a great sense of humor.... and looks at life as positively as he ever has.

My favorite photo of my dad - with his sailboat.

my photo

Somewhere in the distance I hear Jimmy Buffett singing -

"Some of it's magic, some of it's tragic - but I had a good life all the way."