{"id":4404,"date":"2006-02-26T19:24:22","date_gmt":"2006-02-26T23:24:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/formerlyknownas\/2006\/02\/26\/happy-birthday-dad\/"},"modified":"2011-08-05T14:54:08","modified_gmt":"2011-08-05T18:54:08","slug":"happy-birthday-dad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/2006\/02\/26\/happy-birthday-dad\/","title":{"rendered":"happy birthday, dad!"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/blockquote>\n

\"DadMay05s\"<\/font> <\/font>[<\/em><\/font><\/font>larger<\/a><\/font><\/em>] Today is my father’s 87th birthday. Arthur P. Giacalone was born in Lodi, NJ, to Italian-immigrant parents, on Feb. 26, 1919. For most of his working life, “Art” was a “mail man” for the U.S. Post Office (on walking routes in neighborhoods in Rochester, NY). In retirement, he drove a school bus until hitting the maximum age limit of 70. (With his perfect safety record, why didn’t his two lawyer sons fight that ageist rule? He probably would have told us to mind our own business). <\/em><\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

I wish it were possible to give Dad his good health back. Instead, the best I can do is to let him know how much his three children, his wife, and his five grandchildren love him, and appreciate how hard this humble man worked to raise his family and set us off into the wider world.
\n<\/strong><\/em><\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

\n

Click <\/font>here<\/font><\/a> to see my Dad with his three children on Easter 1954.<\/font>\"dadEaster54s\" <\/font><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u00a0 <\/font>And click <\/font>here<\/font><\/a> to see him in 2005 with his two youngest<\/font> grandchildren.\u00a0<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I’m a lucky man to reach the age of 56 and have both of my parents alive.<\/font> Dad, as always, I send my love and wish you all the best.<\/font><\/p>\n

M<\/strong><\/em>y friend Yu Chang<\/a> has written many poems that set<\/font> an appropriate tone today. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

old passport
\nthe tug
\nof my father’s smile<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

pumpkin patch —
\nthis one is big enough
\nfor my son<\/p>\n

winter woods
\nseeing myself
\nin black and white<\/p>\n

early bird special
\nrubbing elbows
\nwith strangers<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

old birch
\nthe cracked heart
\nstill shows<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

winter solstice
\nso glad
\nyou got home safely<\/p>\n

mountain lake –
\nbasking
\nin your reflection<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n

………………….. Yu Chang<\/font><\/a> <\/font><\/font><\/font>– all from <\/font>Upstate Dim Sum<\/font><\/em><\/a><\/font><\/span><\/span>
\n“old passport” – (2001\/II); The Loose Thread: RMA 2001<\/em>
\n“pumpkin patch” & “winter woods” – (2005\/I)
\n“old birch” – Upstate Dim Sum<\/em> (2001\/I)
\n“early bird special” – (2004\/II)
\n“winter solstice” – (2005\/II)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

<\/font>dagosan<\/em><\/a><\/font><\/em> has penned a few, too, that<\/font> are dedicated to Art Giacalone.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

WWII
\ndad rather not
\ntalk about it<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

dad’s 87th birthday
\nemphysema
\nand dementia<\/p>\n

\n

visiting parents —
\nfaces and refrains
\ngettin’ old<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

rainy night drive —
\nsquinting at glare
\nthrough dad’s eyes<\/p>\n

\n

[haiga here<\/a><\/font>]<\/p>\n

that little grunt
\ndad always made–
\nputting on my socks<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n
\n

frogpond<\/u><\/em> (XXVIII: 2, 2005); <\/font>inside the mirror<\/em><\/font><\/a>: <\/font>RMA<\/font><\/a> 2005<\/a>
\n<\/font><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

……………………….. by dagosan<\/em><\/a><\/font><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[larger] Today is my father’s 87th birthday. Arthur P. Giacalone was born in Lodi, NJ, to Italian-immigrant parents, on Feb. 26, 1919. For most of his working life, “Art” was a “mail man” for the U.S. Post Office (on walking routes in neighborhoods in Rochester, NY). In retirement, he drove a school bus until hitting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":94,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2926,1414],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pre-06-2006","category-qs-quickies"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6kP1R-192","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4404","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/94"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4404"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4404\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12759,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4404\/revisions\/12759"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}