When I was little, I played golf with my Dad. We always used a golf cart for me and now we play and pretend the cart is for me and not for him. He’s 89. He is the "salt of the earth" as his friends describe him and still flirts gaily with women young and old. He has a full head of white hair and is very handsome, but the sartorial leaves a bit to be desired. He has a Charlie Brown hat and coat and feels akin to this cartoon character.

Daddy lived near his daughter-in-law years ago and would wander over to visit Sara. He’d let himself in and inspect. So Sara said she kept her drawers and closets neat for him. He’d open her UPS packages and say, "Oh you got Tam new sneakers." This was fine on both sides of the equation. He was naturally curious and she found him endearing. When she and my brother divorced she said she missed my Dad’s visits most.

When I was young and starting out doing commercials (which means no money), I’d always find myself at his office at lunchtime and he’d always obligingly take me out. Quite an eyeful for his fellow lawyers. He never said I was his daughter and he loved the innuendoes.

Now he walks all the day, drives my Mom to lunch, is up on sports, politics, family. He never complains and never says anything unkind. He once told me, "If you can’t say anything nice about someone, say nothing at all."

He and my brother visit my sister’s grave monthly and plant flowers and trees for Margo. He never suffers out loud but he goes to Mass for her every day.

He’s as fine a man as could be.

By Tina