We were back east last weekend visiting with my family to celebrate my dad’s 80th birthday. Great time was had by all, except for the flight there when the white guy with dreadlocks kept flipping his nasty hair over the seatback into my face.
Here’s a couple of snaps, one of dad blowing out the candles and the other of the whole Lazar/Rentz brood (including my sister, her husband and his four very tall kids), taken at the big shindig we had)
At the party my sister read a beautiful poem she wrote for dad and I delivered this, er, oration:
Let me start by saying I cannot imagine a person better suited to being a father than mine.
A great father must be in turns a teacher, mentor, friend and task master. This is, unfortunately, not widely understood and even then one or more of the roles is at best paid lip service but my dad has been all four almost all the time.
My father taught me many things but his best lesson was teaching me to read–and understand what I read–by 7 or 8, when I started a lifelong love affair with the written word and the power of thinking.
As a mentor my dad guided me through many life lessons and difficult times. He showed me that morality, ethics are to be valued for their own end and not some distant reward.
As friends we’ve shared many wonderful experiences. We traveled to Israel for my Bar Mitzvah. We watched Star Wars with a rapture rarely matched since. The two of us took a great trip to Italy a few years ago and have had hundreds of great conversations over the years.
I still don’t, however, understand his late in life passion for golf.
Let me sum up by leaving your with this thought: My father has been one of the great joys in my life and one of the most terrific persons I’ve been fortunate to have in my life. So please lift your glasses with me and celebrate your friend and my dad, Richard Lazar.
BillSaysThis 