“My father considered a walk among the mountains as the equivalent of churchgoing.”--Aldous Huxley
Today June 5th, marks the once in a lifetime astronomical event when Venus transits in front of the Sun, and appears as a small, insignificant speck against our bold and life giving Sun.
Today also happens to be my dad’s birthday. If he were alive today, that lovable bastard would be turning 91.
But of course he is no longer with us; he passed on nearly 14 years ago, which considering all he accomplished during his 78 years, was a pretty good run.
He helped to produce nine kids, two books of poetry, and had one wife to whom he was married fifty-two years, when he died.
Pretty good for a working class Irish-Catholic guy with nothing other than many mouths to feed, a high school education, a work ethic beyond reproach, a love for his wife and his kids, and most importantly, a love for the English language.
But let me share a secret with ya…My dad was one grumpy bastard for much of his life.
Sometimes he would be so grumpy that he would let loose his skilled use of the English language upon us children, and say something like…
“God Damn It!!”
Ha…As devoutly Catholic as my dad was, instead of shrinking and cowering to the distant teachings of the Pope, my dad felt that he HAD every right to invoke God’s name, and did so on numerous occasions.
In a rare occurrence, Venus will transit the Sun and appear as a speck across our larger than life celestial star today, and…well it kinda says something to me.
When I see Venus as a speck against the great and golden illuminating prowess of the Sun, I am going to see myself as that speck in the greatness that was my dad.
I’ll never be as successful as my dad. I’ll never be as nice as my dad…I’ll never have the once in a lifetime love as my dad, but…
I’ll always have his love of words, his sense of humor, and his love for people.
And for me?
That’s enough, however…
He could have also given me his good hair, good gums, and good eyesight as well.
But instead I got Mom's; thanks a lot Dad.
Cheers!!
Matt-Man
neshobadude@yahoo.com
@mattmaniws
16 comments:
Such a sweet, touching tribute.
Jay
A tear in my eye! I watched my Dad take his last breath.. You are more than your Dad would have hoped!! :) Miss
Jay: Are you making fun of me? I can never tell. Cheers and thanks Jayman!!
Matt-Man
Miss; I was at my dad's bed as well when he died. Let's use this as a topic for a future radio show, it would be entirely uplifting!! Cheers Miss!!
Matt-Man
Good tribute.
There are a lot of things that happen that make me wonder how my dad would have interpreted it.
He really wanted to see 2015 - because the Kennedys are apparently releasing the results their internal investigation into the JFK assassination in that year.
He didn't make it.
When they do (and I GUESS Dad's story about they were releasing it was true), I'll certainly be thinking about through the lens of what he would have thought.
Katy: Thanks and my dad? He would have thought less about the conspiracies and all the theories surrounding it, and just wondered, which he did and wrote about, why would anyone do that? Cheers Katy!!
Matt-Man
Why would you think I was making fun of you? Maybe I should now! ha
Jay
A loving tribute to a great man!
Jayman: You're right...I was being hurtful. I apolo---Cheers Jayman!!
Matt-Man
Beth: Thanks and Cheers Schmoop!!
Matt-Man
Great tribute! The sky always reminds me of my grandpa who taught me most of what I know about the northwoods. We used to spend so many nights in his backyard (in the middle of nowhere) with a telescope looking at stars. I'm checking out the transit today in honor of him. Very cool!
Your dad sounds like a great man!
L-Kat: That's wonderful and yeah, my dad was a good guy, unfortunately, clouds are taking over here and may not get a good view of it this evening. Cheers Kat!!
Matt-Man
I forgot to stare at the sun today.! DAMN!!
That was wonderful. I'm glad you had such a loving father and someone genuinely great to look up to. I still remember one of your posts about your dad from years ago, when you talked about his poetry.
I didn't know about the Venus transition until I was dropping books off at the library with my kids today, and a Science teacher was so excited about it, he had me look through his special lens. It was amazing!!! Venus looked like a beauty mark on the Sun's left temple. So small, but distinctive.
P.S. You look like your dad--ears, eyes, smile.
Mike: I did, and still have a headache. Thanks for stopping by. Cheers Mike!!
Matt-Man
Jo: Why thank ya, and yeah, we all got THE ears and I managed to pass those on to my kid as well. Ha...He had you, "look through his special lens?" That sounds dirty. Cheers Jo!!
Matt-Man
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