Happy Father's Day to the Fathers whose children never knew them

And then there was a very special man who saw his children only from afar. One who never got to play the role of dad but never forgot the two sons he had fathered once he was made aware of them by their their mothers whom he had met along his travels.

Although the children were raised well by step-fathers, he knew they shared his blood. He saw his likeness in their faces and watched them grow when his path took him through their separate towns.

Amazingly the two boys ended up attending the same college and grew to be best friends. One day he sat on a bench outside a building at the university and saw them exiting together after class. "It was like looking into a mirror of me in my past," he said. "I couldn't believe that the two young men didn't know they were brothers." Then again, maybe something special drew them together and they shared common interests.

He never got to shoot hoops with them or teach them to play the saxophone like his dad had done with him. Unknowingly, they probably grew up listening to his music and admiring his talent, eventually seeing him on TV and even possibly in a movie.

In some cases, men like these were wonderful, unselfish fathers who missed out on the joys of participating in their children's lives. Instead this one followed in his father's shoes, playing music throughout his life. Eventually his talent and many moments of serendipity led to a life on the road, to special places representing his country in an Army band and on to a successful, professional career. The baritone saxophones he owned were his children; his bandmates his family.

Telling this story, staring off into the past, tears formed in his eyes. Living as a musician has its rewards. It also has its sacrifices.

Copyright © 2013 Susan Cross – All rights reserved

Happy 40th Woodstock Anniversary

I'd like to extend my happy anniversary wishes to all of the Woodstock attendees with whom I shared a mud puddle 40 years ago. A lot of things have changed since then. A lot!

Other things haven't changed quite so much. We're engaged in a different war but it's also undeclared. Racial issues have evolved to a point that we never dreamed possible. Having a black man elected President was not even on our radar; we would have been happy just to stop the discrimination and segregation. People are protesting political policies and we now recognize new cultural differences that require some attention.

Teenaged boys are growing their hair long again and the stores are full of tie dyed clothing with peace signs on them. Everyone uses the word love, a little too loosely in my opinion. It's one thing for a parent to say "Love you" at the end of a phone conversation with a child, but when an American Idol contestant says, "I love you all" at the end of a performance, it occurs to me that they may not understand the concept. Nobody 'likes' anymore; everybody 'loves' now.

At the last concert I attended, a no smoking event, at the end of the show everyone held up their cell phones as if they were lit matches to show their sincere thanks to the musicians. We didn't have cell phones 40 years ago and if we did, we probably wouldn't have had any reception due to the weather conditions out in the middle of nowhere. Our matches kept going out due to the rain, but we just lit more matches.

Reminiscing is good. If you really want to take a look at how things have changed, refer to GRAND Magazine's cover article for the August issue. GRAND is a webzine targeted at baby boomer grandparents. What better way to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the event that affected so many cultural changes than to feature an interview with Arlo Guthrie written by, none other than -- Susan Cross (shameless plug).

http://www.grandmagazine.com/

By the way, Arlo has 4 children and 7 grandkids and is a card carrying Republican. That alone should tell you that anything is possible -- even me meeting my deadline 10 days from today!