On Fathers' Day

It's great to be a father on Fathers' Day when you have kids who are good and decent people. And when your wife, who's in a class by herself, makes a special dinner featuring a recipe for London broil that's so spicy she can't even eat it herself. Now, that's altruism.

But there's really no way around the fact that on this day, I think a lot about how I miss my own father, who died about two and a half years ago. Looking back on what I've written at Pillage Idiot, my one regret is not showing my father a few of my rare notable posts. My father knew a huge amount about the Jewish vote, and I regret that I never showed him what I wrote on that subject. I guess I was convinced that it wouldn't live up to his standards, but I'm sure he would have liked it, anyway.

In 2005, while he was being treated for cancer, I wrote a few things about the situation, and I'll link them here.

I'm back (briefly describing my father's hospitalization)

Driving in Manhattan (talking about driving him to his cancer treatment)

A few jokes (including his favorite joke, which I still think is perfect)

My father died in early January 2006, and I spent the next 11 months saying kaddish for him. I discovered a few things about the daily minyan, because I was going twice or three times every day.

Shiva

One-minute shacharit (how to shorten the lengthy morning prayers)

Memory (a rumination on saying prayers from memory)

Funeral fun (remembering how things didn't going smoothly at the cemetery)

Kaddish by the numbers (explaining how many times one says the kaddish during the 11 months; hint: it's a large number)

In the past year and a half, I've written less often about my father, but he's still constantly in my mind.

Thinking about my father (Thanksgiving Day thoughts)

Dreaming (seeing my father in a series of dreams)