Variations on a theme

The news of my father’s death hit me hard. I had just started a new job the week before, in a new city. My wife and kids had not yet moved and I was staying with a high school friend of my mother that I’d never met before.

Having received the news while at work, I left early but was in no hurry to get back to the house. I spent an hour or two wandering the city aimlessly. Another hour or two sitting on a rock outcropping in a town forest, thinking. And then I found a bar and ordered two of my dad’s favorite cocktails. One for me and one for him.

I have honored that day with the same drink order more than 20 times since.

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The news of my father’s death hit me hard. I had just started a new job the week before, in a new city. My wife and kids had not yet moved and I was staying with a high school friend of my mother that I’d never met before.

Having received the news while at work, I left early but was in no hurry to get back to the house. I spent an hour or two wandering the city aimlessly. Another hour or two sitting on a rock outcropping in a town forest and thinking. And then I found a bar and ordered two of my dad’s favorite cocktails. One for me and one for him.

I have honored that day with the same drink order more than 20 times since.

View attachment 2353500


This is a powerful post and a beautiful tradition.
Thank you for sharing this one! A really great picture, too.
 
The news of my father’s death hit me hard. I had just started a new job the week before, in a new city. My wife and kids had not yet moved and I was staying with a high school friend of my mother that I’d never met before.

Having received the news while at work, I left early but was in no hurry to get back to the house. I spent an hour or two wandering the city aimlessly. Another hour or two sitting on a rock outcropping in a town forest, thinking. And then I found a bar and ordered two of my dad’s favorite cocktails. One for me and one for him.

I have honored that day with the same drink order more than 20 times since.

View attachment 2353500
That is beautiful It reminds me of The Long Goodbye, by Raymond Chandler, where he honours his friend by ordering a Gimlet at the same bar they went to.
Such a moving gesture.
Thank you for sharing that.
 
The news of my father’s death hit me hard. I had just started a new job the week before, in a new city. My wife and kids had not yet moved and I was staying with a high school friend of my mother that I’d never met before.

Having received the news while at work, I left early but was in no hurry to get back to the house. I spent an hour or two wandering the city aimlessly. Another hour or two sitting on a rock outcropping in a town forest, thinking. And then I found a bar and ordered two of my dad’s favorite cocktails. One for me and one for him.

I have honored that day with the same drink order more than 20 times since.

View attachment 2353500
I love that story, and that is a powerful tradition. Our loved are never truly gone as long as they are spoken of.

Gibson? I will drink to your tradition then next time I am out.
 
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