Dad would have been 69 today. How would we react seeing his family today as it had changed and grown? 7 years on...
I think he would have been proud. 4 lovely grandchildren, children settling down well and following his can't- sit-idle work ethic, doing things or trying to, falling occasionally but getting there, getting stronger, perhaps wiser. Things a parent eventually hopes to bask in the glory of after the hard years of bringing up children and sacrifices to give your family the best. Odd that he missed all of that.
How would he react to Arjun, Tanvi, Diya, Ruhi? 2 of them whom he never saw. He would love them to bits. He does. But how much they miss and what they miss, even they do not know.
Loss is funny, it takes away and then numbs you. In that numbed state you forget what you are missing, and then you occasionally realise. Does it change how you are, how you feel about life? It does, I know, Dad knows.
Life is such a temporal affair with the world but in some ways it is continuous. His legacy lives, so does he. His values sustain, so does he. He lives in his kids, grandkids, all carrying impressions and traits of him. He lives, a little differently, sitting silently on a corner table watching his family dine together and toast him on his 69th birthday.
Love you Dad! Happy Birthday!
