Sunday, August 5, 2012

On Mortality

I love my father. He would do anything for anybody. He is smart, has a very easy time making others laugh, and he treats my mom  like royalty. He even calls her "the duchess", though usually in jest . He also has a booming voice, a ridiculous temper, hates (or does a good job pretending to hate) socializing, is often grouchy and has issues communicating. Dad did not have a stress-free experience parenting two daughters, and the stress showed.    So, imagine my surprise when on a cold February Friday, dad woke his wife and daughters up told us we were going to have a "Really fun weekend!"  

We did. I was thirteen at the time, and ten years later I still remember as one of the best weekends I have the ability to remember. We went to down-town Detroit and to the Detroit Institute of Arts, to see a mummy exhibition.  Our family got in for free because  the lady working the front desk was so impressed with my mom's knowledge. Then, we dropped  in on a Motown tribute concert that just happened to be going on , after which a  seemingly homeless street-musician serenaded  my sister and I with Stevie Wonder's "Isn't She Lovely" because we talked dad into giving him a couple bucks.  The next day we saw Fame at the Detroit Opera House . My mom, sister and I inherited a slight obsession with musical theater from my maternal grandparents, so he knew he'd hit a home run with that one.  Are you wondering what  motivated daddy to create this memory , like I was?  He had cancer again and he thought he was dying...soon.

My father is very much alive; I would guess he doesn't regret that weekend. All four of us still tell stories about it.

Any of us could pass way within the hour. Why does a doctor always have to remind us of that? We should all be doing what we love with whomever we love right now. I am not saying who should grab your families and spend money on them , immediately. Everything we did other than the hotel and the play, that weekend, was free. Tickets to the D.I.A .  range from five to twenty dollars, unless you are as intelligent as my mother.   I am saying never forget that you're mortal.  When my sister and I reminisce about that time-- we mostly discuss, how spontaneous it was and how much we  all smiled.

It's never a bad choice to make a memory; there is always a chance it could be your last. 

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