Another Tribute to My Hero

I've often wondered what my Dad would have had to say about my blog. Although not an overly private man, he also wasn't temperamentally inclined to be public about many things. That fact alone makes me uncertain how he would have reacted to some of the more personal stuff that I've reflected on here.

On the other hand, from the start, Dad was unreservedly supportive of my interest in becoming a musician. He couldn't provide much financial help but he was often the one who volunteered to drive my high-school band to gigs. And he and my Mom allowed that band to rehearse in the "dining room", a tiny space in our railroad flat on the second floor of a house we shared with Mom's brother and his family on the ground floor and her mother on the third. To this day, I marvel at the tolerance it must have taken for my parents to listen to five out-of-tune teenagers - at close range - loudly playing songs neither one of them probably liked, over and over. Did I mention I learned how to play drums - practicing incessantly - in that same flat?   

I wonder what Dad would have thought about me sharing this family story. Aside from today, his birthday, I've recalled him many times here - on Veteran's Day, D-Day, etc. Sometimes a memory is dislodged, another instance of his unwavering love, and I feel compelled to write about him, my hero in every meaningful way. If he were still with me, perhaps he might have tried to talk me out of this and all my other public tributes to him. I suspect I wouldn't have listened.