First-class father and natural-born blogger

Nov 25, 2012

I just left my father at the airport, with a handshake, a hug and an “I love you, dad.” In a few hours, he’ll be on his way to Honolulu, sitting in first class enjoying a hot fudge sundae and the Sunday New York Times before he works on his legal cases and rewrites a children’s version of his Peace Corps story.

During his visit to North Carolina this week, dad asked me to search out the “eulogy dispensation notice” he once sent me (I referenced it in an earlier post), absolving me from any responsibility to stand in front of family, friends and community to speak about his life, because I’d been kind to him while he was alive. I searched through my file drawers and through five binders of letters collected during my own Peace Corps service (lots of potential writing and narrative projects in there, I realized), didn’t find the dispensation memo, but did see lots of short notes from dad, and long essays and letters to editors and politicians.

This morning, just before we left the house, dad sent a short message to the Zuiker family mailing list:

great visit at Anton and Erin’s for over a week. wonderful family wonderful children. lots of fun more later.

For years, I’ve been crediting my grandfathers with the inspiration for me being a blogger. This morning, though, I realized that my father, with his constant stream of messages and essays and books and calls and visits, shows that he, too, is a natural-born blogger.

Dad, even if I do find that notice, I intend to stand at your funeral – may it be decades in the future – and proclaim your graces.

For now, I am most thankful for your present and generous example of what it means to be a man, a husband, a father, a brother, a blogger, a citizen and a first-class human being.

Anton Zuiker ☄