My dad passed away early this morning, three days after his 74th birthday. 32 years ago he gave me this poem "A Father's Prayer" - typed up and in an envelope with my name on it. I have always treasured it, and now with three boys of my own, it means even more.
Of all the pictures I have of us together, this is my favorite (even with the mustache, which is saying a lot), taken in 1986 at my graduation from college. In part it's because we're standing in front of the shelves we built together two years before, which we put up and took down every time I changed apartments for eight years of college, graduate school and law school. But this is how I will always remember Daddy - with a smile and a twinkle in his eye.