Dad was an all-around easy person to like. He exuded warmth
and used his sense of humor to make connections with people wherever he went. He
was the kind of person that could immediately put you at ease, and his greatest
reward for this was making you laugh.
It’s not surprising that he loved children. He was fun-loving and generally unafraid of being silly. That part in us that is sometimes
lost when we harden into adulthood was never lost in him. Even after
Alzheimer’s had taken so much, it never disposessed him of his right to a good
joke.
Humor was one of Dad’s greatest gifts and he used it to help
him get through the difficult times in his life. My Dad came from humble beginnings
– the kind that would turn a lesser person understandably bitter – but he kept
an open heart and, despite challenges along the way, managed to live life with
a kind of reluctant optimism many of us fail to achieve, even with more
advantages and privilege than he.
My Dad was humble. He didn’t pretend to have all the answers
or ever assert that his way was the only right one. He was tender-hearted and unreservedly affectionate
towards his daughters. He gave out of what he had and it was important to him
that we knew he was there for us come what may, without judgment or qualification.
He was good at being comforting. He knew how to listen even though he loved to
talk. He had so many stories…
