DAD

Dad, with my sister Pam and me. My brother Owen, so much like Dad, showed up a few years later.

As I write this, it's 20 years, virtually to the hour (Australian time), since my Dad passed away.

A long time, and yet it's flown -- which just emphasizes that our stay in this life is fleeting for us all. A blink of an eye in the vastness of eternity.

I remember Dad today, as I do every day, for being a man of courage, decency and humility. He had far more to boast about than most of the superficial types who sound off about their bank accounts, stupid cars and sexual conquests.

My Dad was not perfect. He was fallible like the rest of us (well, not as fallible as me, to be brutally honest), but he was aware of that. Here was a bloke who COULD HAVE climbed onto a pedestal with all that he achieved in his chosen field, but never did. In fact, I can't recall him ever boasting. It would, therefore, be an injustice to him for me to romanticize him as somehow perfect because he was a man of truth himself. Down to earth; telling it the way it was. But he was a human being of substance who did so much for his family and, with his wife, set an example of strength and integrity for his kids that has helped us battle on in an increasingly complex world. Kids need loving parents. Two of them, whenever possible -- although, obviously, that isn't always possible.

My father achieved so much on so many fundamentally important levels and he passed on what he learned to others. MANY others. So really, he is still with us. What a great legacy.

We haven't forgotten you, Dad. And we love you very much. See you soon.

Your Son,
A
PS: Dad, I'm certainly not a teenager anymore but I still play my music way too loud!

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