Time Passes so Quickly

 Looking at my calendar, I saw that the anniversary of my father’s death was rapidly approaching. I was surprised to see that tomorrow it will be 50 years ago that he left this planet. My dad, Roy Breidenbach was born 121 years ago in 1905. He passed away on May 20^th, 1976 at the age of 70.

    In some ways, this shocks me; I know it has been a long time, but a half of a century, it's hard to believe! I had just passed my 21^st birthday when he died. I’m sorry that I didn’t get to know him better.

    He inspired me in so many ways. In astronomy, I still have the telescope he gave me when I was in grade school. Literature, I have many of his books, including his cookbooks still on my shelves. His love of reading has been in my genes from before I knew how to read. For this I am forever thankful! He taught me about appreciating music, both good and bad. There is evidence of him all through my life. 

    I was looking for some pictures of him and quickly realized that he is rarely in any of the family pictures. It is because he is the one holding the camera. Through this, he has helped put faces to many of the relatives I never met. Photography, another gift he bestowed on me.

    He was a writer, penning many letters in the later years of his life, but then again, that is how things were done back in the seventies. Texting and social media were things only in science fiction novels. He was a collector and my attic still has boxes of things he didn’t want to toss. Broken watches, old pipes, knick-knacks and coins, they give example of the vast areas of his interests. Perhaps that is why I tend to do the same…I’ve learned through example. Maybe it is another type of genes he shared, those of a pack rat.

    He loved the outdoors. He was a landscaper and it seemed as if he knew everything about plants and trees. He knew their names, both in English and Latin. He knew how and when they would grow and knew what plants would look good with others. He transformed our yard into a year-long show of color. I remember him telling me that a weed was only a plant that was in the wrong place. Dandelions could look good if you wanted them there, in the same way, a rose could be a weed if planted in the wrong spot!

    He told me shortly before he died that he had been lucky enough to see men leave the surface of the earth in airplanes and was also able to see men go into space and land on the moon!

     Fifty years is a long time. I am now in my 7^th decade and thank heavens I can still remember him! I treasure the memories I have of him. There are so many times when I’ll see something and he will pop into my mind. He may have left the planet fifty years ago but in many ways, he is still here!

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I wrote a short narrative about him 5 years ago, if you’d like to read it, here is a link.

Notes from a Reading Addict: Weeding with my Father