It's Not What Your Parents Give You.

Few Men In Their 70s Looked As Good As My Father Did. What Was His Secret? Genes, Maybe, Since He Didn't Exercise Or Diet, And He Kept A Candy Drawer, Drank A Pot Of Black Coffee Every Day, And Read In The Middle Of The Night. Still, He Took Such Joy In Being A Dad - And In Life In General - And His Happiness Showed.

It's Something He Used To Say When He Was Happy. It Could Be A Very, Very Simple Day. We Might Be Sitting Out On The Front Lawn. Dad Loved Classical Music And We Might Be Listening To Some Stravinsky Or Something And Having Some Tea And Eggs. And He'd Say, 'oh, Good Stuff, Isn't It?'

It's Not What Your Parents Give You. It's What You Do With Your Own Stuff.

I'm Sure There Was Some Part Of His Soul Was Intrinsically Happy, But He Probably Had To Go Through Some Permutations To Really Get That To Blossom. I'm Sure Dad Had His Challenges, But I Think That Joy Was There From The Beginning And He Had To Find A Way To Make His Life Support That And Express That.

Dad Has, And Had, A Deservedly Glowing Reputation. However, This Belief In 'reputation First' Seems To Have Given Rise To His Fears Of What Might Be Rumored After His Death.