I’m not going to go all sentimental about my dad on this Father’s Day. It’s not either of our styles.
But I did want to show this picture of him from back in 1963 or 1964. That’s my brother, Charlie ( Chuckie back then), in the background. When I think of images of my father this one is always first in line in my head. It was a Sunday morning ( my memory says it was an Easter but I can’t be sure) and we were living in an old farmhouse on Wilawanna Road, outside Elmira, that played a very large part in my formative years. We had a large chunk of yard to one side of the house that became a ballfield, a place where many of the kids on our road came to play baseball regularly and where Dad would often pitch to us or hit soaring fungoes that we would run under, pretending to be Willie Mays or Mickey Mantle. Dad is standing near home plate in this photo.
I love this photo. It show my father at about 30 or so years of age, as strong and powerful as I would ever know him. I was four or five years old and he was larger than life to me then, could do no wrong. My protector and my boon companion. This view of him sums that all up.
The pose has a bit of the pride and arrogance of youth in it, still brimming with the what-if’s and what-can-be’s of potential. It’s not something you’re used to seeing in your parents and witnessing it is like seeing a secret glimpse of them, a side you know must have been there but remains hidden from you in your day to day life with your parents. Maybe that’s why I like this picture so much. It seems like a marking point between his youth and ours, his kids.
I don’t know. Like many personal things, it’s hard to explain. All I know is that when I see my Dad today or think about him, the image of this photo is never far from my mind.
happy father’s day….
Redtree Times 