January 7 is celebrated as Christmas for the Eastern Church, but it was also my dad's birthday. In our family we were not big on birthday celebrations. When we were kids my mother would make a big celebration with cake and games. When we got older there wasn't usually a cake but she would throw a pair of jeans on our bed and say, "happy birthday." I followed the tradition and would usually try to call around birthdays and say, "happy birthday."
My dad has been gone for a bit over a year and I was really missing him the last few days. It is around holidays and birthdays that we often miss our departed loved ones. It reminded me of Tolkien's character, Frodo at the end of the The Lord of the Rings, would get an ache in his shoulder and his mood would darken on the anniversary of their fateful quest. A fantasy story but it reminds me of the life lesson that memory is powerful. It can shape our mood and we can even feel its effects in our body. So I remember my father, and the power of his memories give me resolve to live up to who he was. When I face the West in the evening, I remember my ancestors and ask for wisdom to walk in a good way on the circle of the earth. A gift of memory from my dad, on Orthodox Christmas, this January 7, 2019.
