Happy Father's Day
I wanted to write something today in honor of my father, who is 96 1/2 and still going strong. Not a day goes by that I don't think how fortunate I have been to have him in my life, for so much of my life, and for his remarkable vigor. His longevity and health owe a lot to the genes he inherited, and to good luck, but even more so, I think, to the care he's taken to stay in good physical shape his whole life. He survived WWII, as a tank driver in Patton's army in Europe, and came home to marry and become a father and a businessman. When I was little, he still smoked, but he stopped and immediately became consumed with physical fitness - I think he was one of the first people in our small town to become a dedicated runner, at a time when you were laughed at for doing such a thing. He''s a natural athlete, and eventually took up table tennis as his particular sport, which culminated in several appearances in the National Senior Games where he won the national title in his age group, after two knee replacements. He had one hip replaced as well. He still played competitively until a couple of years ago; still drives; still lives independently with his partner of the past twelve years who is, herself, remarkable for her age.
(c) Aaron Levinsky, National Senior Games, 2015
I am an only child, and wasn't particularly athletic, except for being a good swimmer, and later, someone who really enjoyed small boat sailing (which he taught me), downhill skiing, and biking. I got my musical ability and love of it from my father, and it's something we've shared from the earliest days when he taught me to sing harmony, read music, and begin the piano when I was so young I can barely remember. He's an excellent woodworker/fine carpenter, who not only built furniture but our own house, and has always loved to do creative projects and to fix things -- in recent years that's turned into a hobby of fixing clocks, the more complicated the better.
Regardless of the challenge I was facing, from academic or artistic endeavors, to finding my way at a big university, to starting a business, my father always encouraged me to persevere, to be fair in all my dealings, concentrate on doing my own work tot he best of my ability rather than worrying about the competition, and to learn from my mistakes. If I had agreed to do something, or take a course, or learn something new, the rule was that I couldn't stop in the middle, but had to see it through for the agreed-upon duration. His other mantra was "a thing worth doing at all is worth doing well." I took that to heart as well. In combination with the influence of the strong women of my family, he also gave me the confidence to believe I could do whatever I wanted as a woman. I got my outgoing nature and love of humor from him, too. And in our nuclear family we had a rule: never let the sun go down on your anger.
My dad and I don't agree about everything, of course, but we've kept to that rule, we've always been close, and there's an unshakable bond of love and loyalty between us. It's been hard not to see each other in person during these months of the pandemic and a closed border, but we've kept in touch by frequent phone calls and the occasional zoom. Today, at last, I received my second vaccination, and hope to be able to go down to see him in the fairly near future, so that's something to celebrate in addition to Father's Day. Dad, je t'embrasse!
