(not necessarily in that order)
Here’s Dad, Uncle Rudy, and their Aunt Tommye at yesterday’s birthday party.
Buster Allen Brooks, Jr (the father of Gil and Rudy) was one of eleven children. Because Buster was born in 1912 and Tommye not until 1933, she and Rudy (Buster’s firstborn) entered the world only two months apart.
Now Dad has just turned ninety, while Rudy and Tommye are both ninety-one. So grateful they’re all still with us! 💖
Today’s celebration of Dad’s 90th birthday was a resounding success.
It left me both exhausted and deeply appreciative of how blessed I am to have grown up in a large and loving family. Especially considering that my wonderful Dad is who he is thanks to his family.
So, here’s to family — quirky, flawed, complicated, challenging — but loving one another just the same, to the very best of our ability.
Maybe I’m just a little bit biased, but I truly believe that I have the best (and most handsome) Dad ever!
And today he turns 90 years old (still just as handsome as he ever was). How wonderful is that?
So, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Gilbert Brooks! ✨💖✨
This Father’s Day I’m thinking about both my Dad and my Mom.
Yesterday — the day before Father’s Day — was the 30th anniversary of my mother’s passing. It boggles my mind how so much time can have gone by already.
Thinking of you with love, Mom. And feeling more grateful than words can express that my Dad is still with us.
Seeing my dad and sister today was so interesting. It felt like it had been absolutely forever and yet it also felt like it had been no time at all.
I feel that having a chance to visit, reconnect, and hug them somehow re-stabilized my psyche and my world. What a relief!
…I get to see my dad and my sis tomorrow! It’s been way too long.
I’ll keep this short because I hope to get an early start on the drive down to Sacto. 😊
I’ve been thinking about the idea of being in the world but not of it (yes, I know it’s from scripture, but I’m just paraphrasing). To me this speaks to the challenge of finding that fine balance between being engaged and responsible in the world, while at the same time being aware of — and trying to live more on — the higher levels of reality.
Of course, that’s hard work (especially these days)! So, it was perfect to find this video of Dave Brubeck’s “Take Five” — because it’s time for a break (“take five” — get it? 😉) and because this is such a surprising, yet totally entertaining, rendition of the piece.
Of course, then I had to go back to the source and listen to the original version of “Take Five.” Why? Because Paul Desmond continues to be my all-time favorite alto saxophonist hero. His playing was just so darned tasteful and melodic.
But also because I learned to love the Dave Brubeck quartet when my Dad played the album as I was growing up. Plus Miles Davis; all nine Beethoven symphonies; Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition; Oscar Peterson; Schubert’s Rosamunde; Thelonious Monk; and so on and so forth. ..
Great memories…and we still love listening to music together (or would if we could get together; oh well). Thanks for the gift of music, Dad! 💗
The big waves of a week ago have transformed into gradually receding ripples…
🔸 I’ll be following up soon with some friends who would like a chance to talk more via a Zoom chat.
🔸 I’m collecting information about causes and/or businesses that people can support in the interest of contributing to real, lasting change.
🔸 I had a nice phone chat with my Dad and asked him questions to fill in the gaps of my knowledge or memory.
Turns out he wasn’t poised to work for NASA; he would have still been an employee of Lockheed but working at the Space Center. The home he and my mom were interested in leasing was in what was originally a Quaker community called Friendswood; the wife of the couple was all set to go, but the husband felt they should run it by the neighbors. End of story.
I also learned that in the brief period he worked for Control Data Corporation (CDC), Dad was almost transferred to Minneapolis. And at one point he was offered the chance to interview for a job at Northwestern University in Chicago.
How different my life would have looked if even a portion of my growing up years had been spent in Texas, Minnesota, or Illinois!
I can’t even imagine…