Today is my dad’s birthday. Not to be confusing, but I call my dad Rog. What can I say, my parents were hippies and for some reason I called them by their first names. I know. Don’t get me started. Now that I’m a parent, I can’t imagine it.
Anyway, I just wanted to give a shout out to my dad on his birthday. I miss him a lot and it bums me out that we can’t be closer to him and to family in general. I really wish things had worked out so that we could have lived nearby. It breaks my heart to think of my kids growing up so far from their grandparents and extended family.
But on to happier things. My dad is great guy. He is an amazing artist and teacher. He is incredibly dedicated to his craft, both in the studio and the classroom. I think sometimes he feels like teaching is a means to an end. His true passion is creating art but I think he knows how much his teaching has touched a great many people. His enthusiasm for creating is infectious. I can’t tell you how many people have taken me aside to tell me what a wonderful, inspiring educator my dad is. How they didn’t think they could draw, but they actually could. My dad has taught me some wonderful lessons. Here are just a few of them, in no particular order:
-It is wrong to kill spiders (and moths and any other small being that finds its way into your home). It didn’t ask to be a bug. Seriously, I think of this every time I see a bug in my house.
-Soy sauce tastes good on most things.
-It’s not necessary to use every pot in the house when cooking a meal but it is possible.
-It’s ok to be a little obsessive. It can lead to great things.
-One of the sweetest pleasures in life is to work hard and end the day with “wine and cheese hour.”
-Family is important. Do not take them for granted.
-If you work really hard at something, you can succeed (where there’s a will there’s an A) and even the most math challenged person can learn multiplication tables. I promise.
Pictured above, my dad, in one of the first photos taken of him as a grandpa. That’s him with a very little Leo, at about two weeks old, in our old apartment in Brooklyn.
Have a great one Rog!
