A Renaissance Man

My father was not the stereotypical father. He worked over 30 years at a grocery store. He did not drive. He was not a big sports fan.He did not drink, smoke and seldom lost his temper. He did speak two languages, wrote poetry and love letters to my mother, he sang, he danced and he loved the movies, broadway and award shows, and he was a good artist. he did not become interested in baseball until he met the famous baseball pitcher Camilo Pascual- who shopped at the grocey store. They would talk about politics,(Pascual was from Cuba, my father was from Spain) My brothers and I met Camilo Pascual one day when we went to pick my father up at work. My father soon became a baseball fan-He took us to our first baseball game- and not knowing any better, walked down the aisles to the Senators dugout and shouted out Camilo's name.- Much to our surprised, Camilo came out, shook hands with my father and autographed our baseballs. It made our day and we thought our dad kinda special-he knew somebody famous We attended a few more games over the years, and my father became somewhat of a baseball fan. My father loved to read- and although he did not graduate from high school in this country, he knew American history better than most Americans. We use to watch Jeopardy and he would whiz through the answers- he was really good with history and the arts and entertainment questions. On his days off, he would go down to Georgetown with our neighbor George Psira, they would look for a nice location along the canal, set up their easels and paint-they were both very good painters-a trait I did not inherit. He loved the holidays and made each one special, and filmed or photographed every family get together-when he died there must have been over a thousand photgraphs of family and friends. Award shows were a big deal for him- he loved showbusiness and always had dreams of becoming an actor-. Whenever there was an awards show on, he would buy fancy cheese and meats, crackers, sparking wine and make a big production of the evening- guessing the winners of the Oscars, Tony's or Emmy's. He made a point to see all the nominated movies during the year. When I turned 18, he took me to see my first "racy movie". It was Gypsy- with Natalie Wood, Ethel Merman and Karl Mulden. It was pretty risque at the time and we had a great time. There are so many great stories to tell about my father- and I could go on and on. But that will be for a later date. I can only say, he died to soon, and he is greatly missed. I have said it before and I will say it again- he came to this country to become a great actor- and instead he became a great father. Happy Fathers Day Dad- we still miss you.