Happy Birthday, Dad

December 22nd has always been a special day because it’s the day my dad was born. He passed away in 2009 and would have been 89 today. He was a great father and I miss him every single day.

He was always difficult to shop for because when he liked something, he got it. But he loved going through the Lands’ End & LL Bean catalogs at this time of year and choosing what he’d like for his birthday and Christmas. I received a Lands’ End catalog in the mail the other day and felt a pang of regret that he wouldn’t be going through it.

When my mom was pregnant with me, my dad was working as an extra in the movies, down in Los Angeles. That didn’t last long but he’s in the background of many movies such as Bus Stop and The Ten Commandments. He was a bodybuilder which led him to opening his own health club in Redwood City, California, where I grew up.

As I mentioned, he was an extra in The Ten Commandments. Growing up, every single year we’d watch the movie and excitedly look for him. He’s the one in the front holding the golden calf. The picture on the right is from another scene where’s he’s hammering gold. It was always fun because this scene came right after a commercial break. Special memories!