Tony and Jim

It's Father's Day and I have to give equal time to the fathers in our family.

I've written about my dad, Tony, in previous blogs. My dad worked nights most of my childhood. He would have his supper and head off to work. He was a bartender for a lot of years in my neighborhood. Walking through the neighborhood with my dad was like walking with the Mayor. He was well liked, well known and a handsome fella, to say the least.

I really hadn't thought about this but my brother posted on Facebook recently about my dad's courage in coming to the United States. He was a young married man with three babies when he came here from Scotland in search of a better life for his young family. He left Ireland first, moved to Scotland and then to the United States. That took chutzpah, courage, balls. He was a hard working man with a great sense of humor and an even better head of hair.

Jamie's dad, Jim, was a very smart man. He told Jamie that the smartest thing he could do was marry me. Just brilliant. He was very much in love with Vivian, his wife. They were married for 45 years when Vivian lost her battle with cancer. After Vivian passed away and Jamie and I were helping sort through the house, we found an envelope filled with love notes he used to leave her. They were sweet, handwritten notes telling he loved her, have a great day, don't forget to call about the tree service or some other task she had for the day. Jamie was a late in life baby for Jim. He became a first time dad at the ripe age of 46, virtually unheard of in the 1950s. He adored Jamie and adored his grandsons, James and Joe. He worked for Grand Union for over fifty years and taught Jamie that the food business would provide a stable living. You'll never get rich, he said, but you'll always work because people have to eat.

So on this Father's Day, I say thank you to my Dads, Tony and Jim. Please keep watch over us and especially over your grandsons. They have some big shoes to fill.