Today would have been Pat's 71st birthday but I have to say, I think he packed quite a lot into his first 70 1/2, don't you? I'll bet as a kid in West Virginia, he may have imagined traveling around the world but perhaps not realizing that it was all going to happen and in the end, the adventures of his lifetime were more than most people could even imagine, much less make a reality.Quietly celebrating today, do something Pat would have done. If you're working, change your shoes at lunchtime. If you're able to take a walk and enjoy what's going on around you, do that. Say hello to everyone you cross paths with...or "Hola". If you can have a great big chopped salad or fruit salad that would be cool. Give someone a compliment just because and really mean it. Amazing how that works. Amazing how simple these things are but Pat did it with such grace and style. He always wanted you to be able to be the best you can be and would help you if you wanted him to help. He could make your day in just seconds of time in his presence.
So drink your water, listen to some classical or jazz..whistle, sing enough to make you happy.
And sing a Happy Birthday to Pat, Duutz, Zirt, Danforth III...
Love to you Pat where ever you are. Miss you. Miss you a lot but not forgetting you at all.
Hey that letter is wonderful and so true. And it is great to celebrate in all the ways Pat would have loved. He never liked a big celebration but was disappointed it there was not a cake. Last year in Mexico it was just a Sarah Lee frozen one for his seventith but enough.
ReplyDeleteYou are right, he packed everything most people dream about into his seventy and a half years. Happy where ever you are:)
If you're able to take a walk and enjoy what's going on around you, do that.
ReplyDeleteYesterday, I did just that.
I started out on Trafalgar Square by myself. The concierge had said, when I told him my route, "you'll never make it." I walked down The Strand, down Fleet Street, all the way to St. Paul's Cathedral. Sat in St. Paul's for almost an hour drawing a bit. Then crossed the Thames to the South Bank on the Millenium Bridge and visited the Tate Modern Gallery, then continued toward the National Theater and went into the Hayward Gallery, exited there, taking pictures all the way and feeling like a kid, bestowing a lot of money on a large number of street performers and generally taking in the tourists and home-people, all the way past the huge Ferris Wheel to the Westminster Bridge, crossed that, right past Big Ben and Parliament, then on to Whitehall, past 10 Downing Street, up back to Trafalgar Square. I felt in a cocoon all the way, like something special and private was happening and couldn't understand why; couldn't figure out how I had been given the time to do it, was mystified that I had spent so many years, on and off, living here and had never taken that walk, never figured out exactly where those things were in relation to each other, never realized how close they all were. So there I was, again, realizing how un-smart I really have been about so many things that were right in front of my nose, and I felt it was a great gift ... of the obvious.
So his birthday was a wonderful day for me.
One of the things I did was buy some cards that looked funny and nice and at a certain point sat down for coffee and a cookie and to write on them. I write cards to my kids quite often (sometimes every day). The card I chose was the one with the big foot print beside the little footprint in the sand that represents that transition all parents (all people) see between that little tiny foot and its growth to equal or exceed the giant one next to it. Not till I opened the card did I realize it was a Father's Day card meant to be a thank you from a child to a father. So, instead, I wrote my thanks to all my kids for letting me be a father, thanked them for that most remarkable privilege (though I've kind of messed up in some important ways, but ... I have tried and will continue to). I think Pat had something to do with that pleasant accident of buying cards that represented my Happy Day, my Happy Father's Day on Pat's Happy Birthday.
Happy Birthday, Pat.
wm
thanks for sending this xochi....it put a smile on my face and made me think about MY dad who passed away 6 years ago....still miss him terribly.
ReplyDeleteHappy birthday Pat, I didn't realized we shared the same birthday. No wonder you remembered that my birthday was today, Xochi.
ReplyDeleteBest,
Kevin
Hi Xochi!
ReplyDeleteIt was great to meet you tonight. I have a feeling you may have come to visit the "Dragnet" set once all those years ago, and I might have seen you then. Not that I remember specifically, but like a sense memory. And I think Pat definitely had a hand in getting us together, first by sitting next to each other and meeting up with Nandi! The event I had to go to on the day you had Pat's Memorial Service was also at the same exact time! I was so bummed, I don't make a habit to go to all of the services of people I know who have passed on, they have to be really special to me and I was planning on being there. Please know I was with you in spirit, and that I miss Pat too, but am enriched by having known him, even for a brief time.
I looked at your blog and wish Pat a very happy birthday today. I will go out and have a large chopped salad in his honor and anything else I can think of. I'm not very savvy about the computer age, and would love to contribute to the blog but I don't know how. As soon as I figure it out, you'll have the story of the cutouts for the world to see.
Take care and know you are thought of with love.
Sincerely,
Vicki Rhodes
Alan Truman at 11:43pm May 23
ReplyDeleteXochi. The last time I saw Pat was in Alderson, West Virginia in May 2000. He was attending a Truman Family Reunion. We, of course, had an absolutely great time. We played bocci ball, ate great food, and really enjoyed ourselves. His mother, Mammy, also attended. My brother, Tim, and I made sure, despite some complaints, that Mammy had some 6 ounce Miller High Lifes which she loved so much. There was another Truman Family Reunion held today in Alderson, I'm sure that Pat's playful spirit attended the festivities.
Thank you for sharing this, Xochi. That picture of Pat is absolutely beautiful.
ReplyDeleteKC