Oh the swirl of blog post ideas I have organized merely as swirls in my brain… will have to wait. My calendar reminded me that May 2 was the birthday of my Dad, Morris Lee Levine, born this day in Newark, New Jersey in 1928…
WHAT A MINUTE. That’s a typo, because my human sometimes wrong intelligence knows he was born in 1926. That means it was 99 years ago. Gotta fix the calendar.
Thus the photo in the post, from my family photos directory in the “Dad” folder. The background was a framed photo studio portrait of him, in the buff, that I recall was dated 1927. Then, left to right, superimposed Dad shots – his high school “proof photo” (1944), a polaroid photo dated (1955), in his blue tux for my Bar Mitzvah (1976), on the beach in Ocean City MD our last visit before the folks moved to Florida retirement land (1981), his last birthday in the hospital following a cancer diagnosis (2011).
I am seeing a timeline of Dad at 1, 18, 29, 50, 55, and 75. It’s startling to see my dad’s image at the spot I am on my own timeline. As a kid, a child, they are always way ahead of you on that line.
Dad loved tending his yard, that maybe 1/2 acre suburban Baltimore lot. One of his creams came true shortly before my folks retired to Florida, when decades after pushing various lawnmowers, Dad got himself a riding mower.
This even became his handle, as his email handle was “lawnman12262” (I am changing the numbers slightly on purpose– Dad! consider privacy issues!). I’ll me thinking of you “Old Man” as I go out this weekend to work in our garden, plant trees, and yes Dad, I will pull some weeds. He was relentless in his yanking of dandelions — good thing he never had to deal with Russian thistles.
Happy 99th, Lawnman!
With love, “Junior”.
Featured Image: A digital collage of various photos of my Dad, who “owns” them for licensing purposes except time? They are just out there. Heck, Baby Dad Photo has another year to wiggle into the public domain, but memories are there now.
Love the photo montage! I always think of him while weeding as the butterflies float by. ?
Thank you Alan for those great pictures of dad! He truly loved his lawn! I remember those days with a bucket and a weeder. I hope he doesn’t mind that my yard has some dandelions! I sure miss his dry sense of humor, advice and joy at being at the beach. Happy 99th to our dad!