I'm washing a sarape today

[Xipe Totec]

And ordinary Mexican peasant's garment.

Except for the sentimental value.

This particular sarape was given to me by my father, in 1975, when I finished the requirements for my first degree (chemistry). Technically, I could have graduated then, but I stayed on and finished the requirements for a second degree (mathematics), two years later.

My father did not live to see me graduate; he died of lung cancer within the year.

I keep this sarape by my side always, as a memento.

Happy father's day, Dad.

[lunatica]

1. I hope you're using cold water

I'm sure he was very proud of you.

[Xipe Totec]

2. He was

And I am.

Bravest man I ever met.

He once disarmed a man who was about to pull the trigger of a gun by grasping the gun and breaking the man's finger on the trigger guard.

I did not hear this story from my father. I heard it at my father's funeral, from the man who would have been killed if my father had not acted.

I still get chills when I remember hearing about it.

[frogmarch]

3. What a wonderful stories about your dad.

He must have been a very courageous person, and also a great dad.

I miss mine too. He died 51 years ago, when I was 15.

[Xipe Totec]

4. Tell me about him

He must have been a great dad too.

[frogmarch]

5. My dad was

loving and gentle. He never raised a hand in anger toward any of his family, and he never raised his voice to us either. My birth mother died when I was two weeks old. He was devastated, but he carried on the best he could without her. He adopted her daughter from her first marriage (my mother’s first husband had died) and when my dad remarried years later, he and Mom adopted a Japanese baby. Dad used to read to us three girls, and sing to us, and when I was little and dreaming of becoming a space traveler, he often sat with me in my orange-crate spaceship after supper, and we talked about the stars. He wrote a song about one of them, and we sang it together. I miss my dad.

Here’s a picture of my dad holding my half-sister at my christening. Holding me is a neighbor friend who helped Dad care for my sister and me after our mother died.

[Xipe Totec]

6. Beautiful!

Beautiful man, beautiful memories. No wonder you are so proud of him.

Deservedly so.

Happy father's day to your dad!

:hi:

[frogmarch]

7. Thank you. And happy father's day to

your wonderful dad too.