Greetings from Philadelphia, in particular the lovely and bougie Manayunk neighborhood!
Why am I in the lovely and bougie Manayunk neighborhood, your might ask? It's a long story!
My Dad, who passed almost three years ago, was a scientist with the Department of Agriculture. He got sent around the world (Africa and Asia mostly) to help local farmers and scientists grow more food using advanced (or in some cases, quite primitive but effective) agricultural techniques. He met many fellow scientists along the way, and developed many friendships.
So in the 1980's, he helped with getting visa sponsorship for an Indian colleague and his wife (a medical doctor). It's a complicated story, and one that almost didn't work out, but in the end my Dad helped these two very accomplished people and their daughter settle in the United States. They had been reaching out to my Dad for years, but due to his hearing being shot and his dementia, he wasn't great about keeping in touch with friends.
In any event me and my sister and my nephew drove up to Philly yesterday for lunch with these very wonderful people (and their daughter and her husband, and assorted grandchildren).
So that's how I ended up outside of an organic Italian restaurant crying, when these folks told me and my sister how the memory of my dad was a blessing for their entire family.
People are complicated. My dad could be so stern and withdrawn on meeting him, and you might never realize how damn funny he was after a beer and getting to know somebody, anybody, a little bit.
I miss you Dad. We had such a great time celebrating you yesterday but I have a feeling you already knew that.
No comments:
Post a Comment