John F. O'Brien * Sep 10 1930 - Dec 7 1970

[libertango]

hal - 1970 family passport
Originally uploaded by halobrien

Today is the 38th anniversary of perhaps the most influential event in my life -- the death of my father.

Because quirky_teal is, well, quirky, this is one of very few extant photos of my dad. It was taken for our family passport, sometime early in 1970 (before our trip to Europe, which was in July that year). That's my mom on the right, and yr humb'l narrator in the center. Dad died only a few months after this picture was taken.

The irony of his dying on Pearl Harbor Day was great. One of the stories he would tell -- among his many stories -- was he was listening to the shortwave that day, and heard someone broadcast from Pearl Harbor as it was bombed, in real time. He then told his family and neighbors, and no one believed him... Until the news broke in more conventional channels.

I often think of the alternate universe where Dad lived longer -- how it would have affected me. Smart as he was, personable as he was, funny as he was, I think I would have learned from him, and been much more conventionally sociable. On the other hand, I suspect we would have fought each other, in a way I never really did with my mother. And of course, I almost certainly would have grown up entirely in Boston.

I remember a quote, I think by Faulkner, along the lines of, "A son whose father is alive will push towards the future; a son whose father has died has to be pulled into the future." I wonder who I would be if I pushed more.

G'night, Dad. I miss you still.

Comments

[jaylake.livejournal.com]

Good night, Mr. O'Brien.

[urlgirl.livejournal.com]

He was so young :( I'm sorry, Hal.