OF LOVE AND LOSS

     Ten years. Ten years since you left us, the loss of a huge light of our lives even as we celebrated the Festival of Lights, as we lit the menorahs. Ten years since I could get  a hug from you or call you for advice or listen as you read me one of your letters. Ten years. And still the ache is just as deep and the hole in the heart just as empty.
     Hey, Pop. I always knew you were special, not just to me but to others. I watched as a little girl how people would greet you, would talk with you. I listened to the tones of their voices and saw the easing of worry lines on their faces and I thought to myself how lucky I was that you were my daddy.
     I remember how Gerry was so frightened of you in the beginning and how funny I thought that was for I knew that if one did the right thing, respected others and always looked to do better, to help others, to be a good person - if one did that, then my Pop was the best.
     How lucky we all were that we were able to share you with the generation of grandchildren and even great- grandchildren and how often someone is always visiting you at the cemetery, the stones piled high on your footstone and that of Mommy's.
     So today I write of not the world, not the Village, even though you and your ideas and beliefs guide me there in my thoughts. Instead I write of the man I so terribly miss ten years later. I miss the goodness in him and we saw how much of that goodness was shared with the world when we had an overflow crowd at the funeral, from Arab to Bobover Chassid, at the constant stream of people who came to pay a shiva call, so many with a personal story, at the calls we would get years later as someone heard about your passing and had to tell us how missed you were and how you had helped in an hour of need. You were not rich but how wealthy a man you truly were.
     So Pop, I know you are taking care of Mommy, as you did since you were 16, and I know you are driving G-d nuts with demands to fix the world, to right the wrongs, to protect His people but make sure you give Him a break sometimes!
     And always remember that we continue to need you so please, keep your spirit and soul always among us, watch over us and know how much you are still loved and missed, especially by me, Pop. So today I will cry a little and laugh a lot as I remember you and share the stories we all recall as we all call each other today and reminisce.
    Love you, Pop.