Happy Birthday Dad!

IRONWOOD, MI - Saturday, August 15, 2009 - Today is a very special day for me. Today would have been my dad's birthday. It would have also been his father's (my grandfather's) birthday. And, if my brother Rick wouldn't have been so over-anxious for the first and only time in his life it would have been his birthday too. He was born on the 13th.

I was very lucky! I couldn't have had a better father. I am very proud of my dad. He was a skilled surgeon with an outstanding bedside manner. His patients loved him. When I was a kid, we spent every weekend at our cottage. As soon as my dad was finished with his patients the family -- including dogs, ducks, rabbits, and even deer -- would load into our station wagon. We'd stop at the supermarket. It would take forever to get out of the store. He knew everybody, and he'd stop and talk for what seemed like hours. (Many times it really was!) "How is your wife, Mabel? And you Aunt Louise? And how's your Uncle Harry's gout?"

"Dad! We have to get going! We need to get out to the cottage!" I'd whine. The minute you'd drag him away from one person, another would stop him, "Hey Doc! How are you? I can't tell you how much better my feet feel!"

"That's wonderful!" my dad would say, "Let me see you walk! Excellent! How's your dad doing? Your son Skip still in the band?" And all the while I'm thinking... "Come on! Not again!" Then, when that conversation would be over, he'd turn to me -- even when I was very little -- and tell me the procedure he performed on the guy! "He used to pronate so badly, Jim. He had a severe Hallux Valgus Deformity. I did a base wedge osteotomy on him!"

"Great Dad!" I'd say as I tried to pull him out of the store. "Let's get off to the cottage! You can explain the surgery the next time we watch family slides!" My dad used to take pre- and post-operative surgical photos and somehow they always made it into the slideshow of our family vacation. They always made a real impression on outsiders.

Finally, after hours in the grocery store, we'd be back in the car and on the road! "I can hardly wait to get out to the cottage, Dad!"

Then Dad would drop a news bomb that would bring tears to my eyes. "But first, I have to go do my rounds at the hospital! I have a few patients in there I need to check on!" This was always devastating news! This meant hours and hours of waiting in the car! At least when we were in the grocery store we were there to pull him away... when he'd be alone in the hospital there wasn't anybody there to draw him away.

After hours and hours of waiting he come back to the car and we'd head out to the cottage. Many times we'd arrive past midnight... and the only thing I wanted to do was to go to bed.  It might seem like I'm complaining -- I'm not. My dad was "people person." His patients were extremely important to him. Even at a very early age, I understood. I loved my dad and knowing him like I did, I understood why his patients loved him too. When you have a dad like mine... you had to learn to share.  

In September of 2002, my dad passed away. There hasn't been a day since he passed that I haven't thought about him. My dad was an incredible person, and I miss him dearly. Not only was he an exceptional surgeon; he was a phenomenal fisherman; he was an avid golfer and a very skilled tennis player. I learned so much from my dad! He was a wonderful person.

Happy Birthday Dad!