I am fortunate to have reached a milestone. 70 years is a long time to be around. One of the best things I ever did was to become a dad. Best gig ever. Even the toughest times weren’t all that bad. We love each other. I am blessed. My daughters are Ema Jean and Nicola. Tepper is my son-in-law and the violinist is my BFF Jeff. The ‘kids’ prepared three lovely songs appropriate for such an occasion. I transcribed Nic’s “Eulogy”

“I had a small speech that I had written down, but I don’t really feel like reading it. A lot of you know my dad as a big jokester, but he was also a really great dad, and particularly when we were especially little.

He shone not only in the big moments but a lot of the small moments just running errands, you know: in the car; going to the hardware store; listening to The Debaters and Vinyl Tap on CBC radio… and the thing that is special about my dad is: we’d go along and a lot of kids would be bored but we wouldn’t because we had such imagination because that is something he really instilled in us and in the students that he taught over decades.

Sometimes our imagination’d got the better of us and we would be playing in the grocery store, we’d have all these little games going on and we’d lose track of him and we were never scared because all we had to do was listen…. And we would hear …without fail … somebody laughing , three aisles down… in the milk department and we would just go over there and he would be just making a stranger’s day and they would throw their head back with abandon and laugh.

Beyond that, another moment he really shone, was that, most kids grow up dreading their bedtime and I never thought I really had a bedtime, but looking back on it I realize that we did, but it was really more of a three act show. It would start on my parents’ bed, Ema and I flanking my mom, and she would read us library books while my dad was doing the dishes, and then he would come and give us each a shoulder ride to our beds and when we were there he would take requests for jazz standards and just play the most ridiculously beautiful complex music …”Daddy could you play ‘Just Fwiends’? It didn’t stop there, because after that he would tell the most creative stories that would put all of your streaming services to shame… and not only that, they would be stories that had recurring characters, it was like a series that we would tune into every single night and you know he spent the whole day entertaining a whole bunch of kids and he still took that time and did that for us.

Sometimes he’d fall asleep and we would say “daddy you’re drifting” because we knew that the story wasn’t over, and he would finish every single story the same way. He’d say “and THAT’s the end of the story!” So, I celebrate you dad, today and every day, and I’m proud to be your daughter. Happy Birthday!”

I am kind of proud that I have such wonderful children who appreciate what they have and who they are.