My Dad's Birthday

Arrived back home from Knoxville at 9:15 last night - tired but glad for a good weekend. Today has been sunny in my courtroom and as far as domestic violence days go, not too many hearings, which has given me time to get some much-needed paperwork caught up. Still much to do but at least it's a dent -

Just found out my friend Dr. Harry Murray - my first eye doctor and until his recent retirement, I still saw him professionally - passed away on Friday. I saw him just over a month ago and just last week I'd heard that the day after I saw him, he'd taken ill and had been diagnosed with leukemia! It certainly took him quickly. His wife passed away a few years ago and his two sons and grandchildren all are grown. His sons both live here and he lived alone in the home he'd shared with his wife. He was a good man - I used to say that I went to the eye doctor for therapy, because he'd regularly say things like, "If your entire life is in as good a shape as your eyes, you are one incredible man." The viewing is tonight until 8:00 and I definitely will stop in to pay my respects.

Today would have been my Dad's 78th birthday. I mentioned it to my wife yesterday as we were driving home and said, "He still should be here with me." I wish he were - I could use his advice right now. He's been gone just over 11 years. Hard to believe. One thing my parents taught me - which I truly appreciate - is that death is part of life. They never kept me from funerals but explained them to me frankly but lovingly - I never was scared. I know how important it was for me, when Mom died in 1982 (age 47) and Dad in 1996 (age 66), for friends to come to the funeral home and the funeral. So I will be there tonight for Hank and Roger Murray, if only for a moment, to say hello and to tell them in person how much I admired and appreciated their Dad.