I love you man

For those followers that have become accustomed to upbeat, sarcastic and critical posts here, please indulge me for a minute or so of your time... thank you.

August 27th..... every year this day rolls around... obviously I haven't the power to stop it... and EVERY year it has the same effect on me.....

August 27th.... the anniversary of the passing of my dad.... taken at 71 by the beast we know as cancer... not my biological dad mind you, as I was adopted.... but THE dad that I knew... and miss.... and love.

Dad wasn't athletic or even a sports fan... he was a workaholic... until the day he died. Be that as it may, he ALWAYS provided sis, mom and I with anything and everything (and ALWAYS the best available) we needed to participate in anything we wanted to.... to follow our "dreams".... he was selfless.

He provided literally dozens of days at the Fens, because THAT'S what WE liked... not to mention 10 years worth of season tickets to the Patriots.... although HE rarely attended... NOT 2 tickets (mom is an AVID fan and couldn't miss a game) but 3... so I could always bring a friend along... THAT was dad... he lived through our excitement...

And TRAVEL... owning a travel agency certainly had it's benefits in the 70's...

But that stuff is superficial.... and dad wasn't... although a workaholic - working 7 days a week (often 15 or more hours a day) between his full-time job and selling real estate - he would do ANYTHING humanly possible to be sure he wouldn't miss OUR basketball games, baseball games, football games, track meets, etc...

That's not to say workaholicism didn't ALSO have a profound effect on my sis and myself.... having "business" snippets drilled into our brains while growing up... "Plan your work and work your plan" was a BIGGY... dad was a business genius... and obviously his snippets could be used beyond the business world... I'm sure he knew that...

It's unfortunate that all too often we realize things too late... and I am certainly guilty of cuda, shuda, wuda... but I have continued to learn over the past 12 years.... unfortunately it won't be until I pass that I can actually tell him so...

So, in the mean time, thank you for your time. I apologize if this isn't my "normal" type of post. But, rest assured, I've got some doozies brewing in my skull.... I just needed to use this forum for this right now.... good, bad or indifferent.... could be worse.. he introduced me to BEER... at like 8 years old !!!!

I love you dad..... I miss you dad..... and THANK YOU !!!!!