My Father.

The other day I was uploading some photographs of my father’s 77^th birthday reunion to a digital picture frame and I was struck by the naked joyousness of the faces of his friends. In every photograph, people were smiling, laughing, motioning, eating, drinking and talking. Their joyfulness eked out and flowed into me until I was quite mad with a desire to host another one of those reunions.

I immediately called my sister and communicated my wild idea to her.

I even sent her the photos, so she could see and perhaps experience the joy herself. I was really quite intoxicated with joy as the poet Hafiz might say.

The next day, I argued the plan and concluded it was not feasible.

I asked myself a lot of questions and came up with the simple answer:

I wanted my father to see his friends and spend time with them again.

However, I did not wish to have to endure the process of getting to that point. I did not want to have to rely on my friends and total strangers for assistance.

I called my sister and told her the plans were cancelled. As expected, she was disappointed. I understood her disappointment because I felt the same way, but I was not going down that path again. There had to be another way.

Last Friday, my father rang to say he was on the big island for a few weeks.

I encouraged him to call his friends and make appointments to visit them for the duration of his stay there. He was quite taken with the idea of leisurely seeing each one in their home. After we hung up the phone, I felt uplifted and happy. I am so pleased I discovered a better solution that is completely win/win.

I got what I wanted which was for my father to see and be with his friends for a day. Even if he does not visit all of them, the thought of him spending time with just one, makes me very happy indeed.