'I Sing For My Father'

I just happened to be in the card shop looking for a birthday card, when a man struck up a conversation.

"What are you giving your father this year?" he asked me.

"My father died in 1998," I said.

Obviously embarrassed, he said, "Oh, I'm sorry. I never thought to ask."

Then without hesitation he continued, "It's just that I always have a hard time trying to find something for my father. It's not that he has everything, but whatever you give him always ends up in a drawer unused. I have this great fear that when he dies I'm going to find all my gifts for him still in the original packaging."

"I know exactly how you feel," I answered. "Each Father's Day we decided to take him out to dinner and give him a gift card to whatever store he shopped. It was really not very personal, but he liked it. He got to choose what he wanted."

"No matter what we give him, he always says the same thing, 'Oh, that's nice. You're wasting your money!'" he said, laughing. "Then he sets it aside."

"Well, it's easy for me now. I just sing for him," I told him.

"But I thought you said he was dead."

"Yes, but he's still very much alive in me," I replied. "I sing because my father sang love songs to my mother. I grew up on great music. I'm just paying him back."

"Where do you sing for him?"

"At the cemetery, of course."

"Okay..." He seemed skeptical.

Continued on page 2: »