the topic of father’s day was an awkward one to approach this year, well only for a moment at least.  but, so appropriately, jinny suggested that we should go do something to honor my dad and perhaps do something that he would have enjoyed.  immediately, the mets came to mind – as my dad was an avid fan, and for a while during my childhood, even i was hooked.  i know nothing about baseball now, but let’s just say i know my gary carter, lenny dykstra, doc gooden, strawberry, hernandez and hojo pretty well.  i’m not sure if i ever got to tell my dad that i once performed at shea stadium – but i think he would have been proud of that one. 

my good friends looked up the prices of going to a mets game on father’s day, and it was a bit steep, so instead,  jinny and i opted to go and eat at a restaurant my dad would have loved.

growing up, saturday nights meant eating out.  eating out usually meant going to a japanese or korean restaurant that served sushi/sashimi.   i would imagine raw fish is an acquired taste for ALL children.  but as the years passed, it grew on me.  and like many people, i absolutely love it now.  when my sister was old enough, my dad took the both of us to city island on occasion to have steamers and raw clams on the shell.  again, acquired taste – but now i love it!  for my father though, i think that sashimi might have been the gateway raw fish to all other kinds of bizarre raw fish.  i’m talking about andrew zimmern bizarre.  and oddly enough, he got us hooked on all kinds of raw seafood.  so, today with a bit of research, we found a korean restaurant in queens that served just that – bizarre raw seafood!

jinny was brave and tried a little bit of everything, but i think i was the only one who actually enjoyed most of my meal.

i believe this one was a terriyaki dish

a bit of escargot..

oysters!

here we go, the weird platter!!

octopus, mackerel, etc.

and this one, i still am getting used to, but yet oddly enjoy – sea urchin

yup, i think dad would have been proud!

i miss him dearly.  i began looking at old photos this morning, and at first i wasn’t sure if that’d be a great idea – i began wondering if this might bring me down for the rest of the day.  but instead, it set me on a journey, remembering my childhood with him – all the goofy things said and done, and even some of the hard times when i got older.  it is difficult to shake off the feeling at times, that in many ways, i felt like a disappointment to him.  all the arguments about doing music vs. making a wiser career choice.  the tumultuous ups and downs during my mid-twenties.  all of these thoughts however, came to a halt when i came across this picture below.  it reminded me that when we strip away the complicated layers that make us who we are, we are left with a father who loved his son dearly – who wanted nothing less than the best for his son – and that if i looked past the “urgent” voicemail messages asking me to call him back asap (only to find that he just wanted to know how to set a channel on the remote to “favorite”) – i would have seen that they were merely opportunities he tried to create to hear my voice over the phone – to know that i loved him too.  and my only regret is that i wish i let him know more often… i am thankful today to remember how much i was loved.

we had a great time tonight – remembering you, dad.

happy father’s day – and for everyone else reading – go let your dad know that you love him too.