6/15/2014 Father's Day, and Keeping It Up

Today is Fathers Day. My dad died many year ago when I was nine, he was forty-four. It's been long enough tht I would rarely say i specifically *miss* him, per se - I was the lucky one, being the fourth of four siblings, and my memories  f hi were all pretty happy ones. 

I've come to learn that he had a fairly mean sense of humor and was a severe alcoholic - the Air Force gave him a job as Personal Affairs Officer - essentially, a counsellor with no training or tools whatsoever, just a lot of empathy. 

Well, that ate him up, and he drank and smoked himself to death from cirrhosis of the liver and emphysema  by 44. That takes a lot of work to accomplish so young. 

On rare ocasions, I become a tad sad at what I missed - the strength and xonfort of a Dad, but my Mom did a pretty fantastic job of raising four kids on her own. We lacked nothing. 

SO I rarely remember it's Father's Day, other than al the ads everywhere, and Facebook. 

So here's how I go about it (at least, today, I did): 

"To all my lovely male friends (and some female, too!) - the ones who are biological or adoptive or step Dads, or are Father figures of love and support to people you are not biologically related to - I feel honored and grateful to know so many great ones, and wish you a very happy and special day today!
If you think this might be you - then you are right! Happy Father's Day!"

And for my Mentor since my freshman year of college (A very long time ago) and dear friend, I thank him for the amazing father he is to his actual children, and the fathering he has so generous given to many of us out in the world. He is only ten years my senior, but still - as a greenhorn 18 year old, he was a terrific 28 year old teacher who taught me a strong foundation about theatre, what it means to be a theatre professional, and the ethics that go along with it. 

I had a lovely day - breakfast with my friend Mariam and we took a little walk about three blocks (Mornings always make me stiff and it takes a bit to be quite up to the task of the nice brisk all-the-way around the block ( and soon, further!). we sat in the sun for a but and enjoyed the trees (Sacramento is peppered with beautiful parks full of very old trees - one of our points of pride. When it got a bit too hot, we headed back to the car and home again. 

I enjoyed an afternoon of "Star Trek iInto Darkness" - a good movie, and I am a big fan of Mister Cumberbatch's, so lots of fun. 

Then I mustered my energy, took a few good stretches, and headed out for a good full-around-the-block walk! Nice and brisk - hurrah! 

Managed 15 or 20 minutes on the bike leer, as well! As I hve mentioned to friends, *this* is why I have taken the summer off the stage! 

To heal, do a few one-off, minimal rehearsal things (though the wonderful Portuguese Poem is becoming a bit consuming, but only because it is fascinating how the subject of the Ploem, as we are calling it - Play/Poem) is unfolding as we do more and more research about him - Fernando Pessoa. Brilliant. 

I could have accomplished  few more things on the To-Do list, but right now, the top priority items are getting more and more healthy by the day! So - I won!