I’m still trying to make my way through photos from the last month or so, to share them here. Lots of life being lived! While (almost all of) the family was in town in June, we celebrated my dad’s 60th birthday together at a favorite table of ours, the Red Radish. We snagged a few family pictures, which I think we will all treasure, as it is so hard to gather all together these days. We feasted, remembered my dad’s life through a slideshow of pictures, listened as my dad told the story of the wide-mouthed frog to the grandkids all clambering onto his lap. My sister sang him a beautiful song. We lingered long and savored. Words fail me when it comes to my parents, especially as I grow older, grow up and learn what it is like to be a parent. All the years of work + investment, giving, sacrificing, training, hoping, praying. I’m so thankful for my dad, the kind of hard-working, faithful, godly man of integrity that he is. I think of these old, old words from a monk, Ugo Bassi:
“Measure thy life by loss instead of gain;
Not by the wine drunk but by the wine poured forth;
For love’s strength standeth in love’s sacrifice;
And whoso suffers most hath most to give.”
Love’s strength standeth in love’s sacrifice. Yes, he has loved us well. Happy 60th, Papi!
