Today’s podcast is about my Dad. He was my only hero. He was a teacher. Most heroes are teachers in one way or another. The things he taught were simple but profound. He said things like ‘There’s a big difference between soft and gentle. It takes real strength to be gentle’, and ‘there’s a time for pulling yourself together, and a time for letting yourself go. He also said, ‘Be a man.’ And there wasn’t any doubt about what he meant when he said that.” One of the things Dad always did was keep fresh flowers on Mom’s table…all the time. That’s how he taught things. He always knew that show is much more important than tell. So he showed his sons how to be a man. He always told the truth, even when he screwed up, so I never saw him get embarrassed… even when I saw him cry. He said, ‘big boys don’t cry but sometimes big men do.’ He loved laughing, especially when the joke was on him. He was very smart. He was a whiz at math and music. Oh he loved his music. My room was right next to the living room where he has his piano. Most nights when I was a kid, he’d tell me a story, give me a kiss on the head, and go play his piano…and sing in that quiet, gentle, powerful baritone voice. Sometimes it takes some of us longer than others to learn about what’s really important in life. 