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Today July 24 celebrating my Father’s Birthday 

Papa would be turning 97   

 

Mama writes: “This year 1985 your Papa turned 60 years old,  

Dream and Time, he looks good, right?” 

 

My two siblings, Matthias and Dinah, and I had the immense luck of having a very resourceful, inventive, and unconventional father. The perfect partner to my unique mother. He was a beloved problem solver at his job, later on a revered boss. A very gentle man, beautiful and naturally open, charming. After Papa retired at 65, he took to making ceramics. Earlier he had built a bigger ceramic oven for my mother. Now both of them did ceramics. He had two more years before his death from lymph cancer. In those years he created among other things, square dinner plates in several sizes and square cups. All with that light blue glaze that I cherish. His curiosity and creativity, were active till his last day... 


I celebrate his spirit, drink from the cup, eat from the plate he made for me

A lake of gratitude in my heart 

 


Among other entries where my father appears, my recent Papa Trilogy from mid-May: 

https://karinalandriver.blogspot.com/2022/05/part-2-three-miracles-initiation-once.html 


and his birthday entry from last year:  

https://karinalandriver.blogspot.com/2021/07/today-is-my-fathers-birthday.html 


Comments

Alex K said…
Wonderful picture of your father. He is deep in thought and looks like a kind man. From what you write, it sounds like at the end of his life (though not so many years) he had time to rest, have fun and let his soul and mind wander afar. How you are nourished by the memories of your father and mother is wonderful. I can only imagine how happy that makes them.
July 25, 2022 at 3:29 PM
Karina said…
Two years only he had, he was so looking forward... this made all of us utterly sad. That he lived at all, and that long, was though all a great wonder. Of course i always knew vividly how much he was wounded deep inside. This is what makes me so emphatic about the long lasting repercussions of any war, and the current war in Europe, so close to where i am from, gives me a sharp heartache every day...unavoidably... Our ancestors feel nourished too when we remember and celebrate!
July 26, 2022 at 7:30 PM
nicole gervacio said…
Sweet & intimate way of honoring your Papa, it’s beautiful how integrated arts, crafts, and creativity is within your family…love learning about your parents and can see how parts of them shine through you.
August 1, 2022 at 11:23 AM
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