Michael el Chayil

I thought it would be nice for you to have more context about who my Dad was.  My Dad was the only boy born to his extended  family for quite some time.  All of his aunts doted on him constantly.  So much so that they even named one their children, Geraldine, after my father!  (Serendipitously, it was this Geraldine who introduced me to my wife; more on that later.)  I wouldn't say that Dad could do no wrong.  Rather, no matter what he did, it was chalked up to being another one of those things that made Jerry so charming.  One of the more  "charming" anecdotes was about the time my grandparents went away for the weekend and told my Dad, "no parties".  His mother would recount how she came home to find one of Dad's friend's "asleep" (that's how she put it) in the bathtub!  She was always smiling when she told the story.  Dad was more amused (proud?) than chagrined. Dad (largely due to incidents such as that) enlisted in the n...

I have started working on writing up "Dad's Life" and was thinking to have it ready for the 30 day mark after his exit from this world (as that, according to Jewish tradition, is a propitious time for comforting the soul of the departed).  But I realized that there is so much to my Dad and that it is would be a shame to rush through it.  On the other hand, I also don't want to lose the freshness that comes from the sharp emotions I am feeling right now.  I have decided to have my cake and eat it, too; I'll recount now some of the main lessons I learned from my father and over the year work on a more complete record. So that's really the first thing: have a goal and make sure your actions are consistent with that goal.  As a little league coach he expressed that in words by constantly telling us to keep our eye on the ball.  In action, he expressed that by balancing everyone's innings.  It didn't matter if you were the start first baseman or Roger, wh...