For a few months I felt like your passing away was all just a very bad dream. Now today, ten months after your death, on Nov 22, 2014, the day you would have turned 82 years old, the feeling is still an ache that won't go away. I often have questions I want to ask you, things I want to tell you.
I watch Jeopardy and remember what a short time ago it was that you came up with "Christ the Redeemer" when the question was asked about a particular statue in Brazil. Your amazing sharp mind was a joy to behold, and so was the passion you had for so many things.
Family, farming, Cayuga County, animals, Cornell, sunsets viewed from the family room, music .....
Ah, music .... thank you for the music Dad. That's actually the title of an Abba song that you liked a lot after hearing it first in the Mama Mia musical. But I mean it when I write thank you for the music because I have so many memories of all of the songs you either taught us or shared with us. Getting us all to march off to bed by singing "76 trombones led the big parade" from The Music Man. Teaching us "Found a Peanut" for long car rides, we never got tired of it. Tell Me Why, Mares Eat Oats and Does Eat Oats, A Bicycle Built for Two, Down by the Old Mill Stream, Erie Canal, Bad Bad Leroy Brown, Bill Grogan's Goat, your grand kids would say "Grandpa has a song for everything." I know that you loved to sing, loved going to musicals, and that music was an innate passion of yours.
When you liked something it rubbed off on others. Some of the t.v. shows you liked were The Honeymooners, the Andy Griffith Show, Cheers, MASH, Everybody Loves Raymond, All in the Family, and of course Jeopardy. As for restaurants, you loved Red Lobster, The Golden Garter, Pumpkin Hill Bistro, Arbys, and Elderberry Pond.
