In Memory of my Beloved Father.......

A father, a husband, a brother, a friend, a chef but above all a good and decent human being respected by others and always with a smile on his face. He always had something positive to say about everyone and everything! He managed, he was lucky enough, to have a happy life full of love and care.

Charalambos Ioannou Hadjisofocli, born at the Cypriot village of Gerolakkos on May 26, 1926. His parents were relatively wealthy (as it is measured in material possessions) but he never really cared. After graduating the elementary school he decided to face life head on. He left the comfort of his family home to work at the construction site of the new Cyprus International Airport. He was also a musician! He was a soccer player! He was involved in the community! I cannot forget the last couple of days of his life while at the hospital his friends, neighbors, relatives poured in to see him. To perhaps connect with him, through his smile and kindness, one last time. He worked mostly with British and US organizations such as the US Embassy in Nicosia.

My sister and I adored him. He was the kind of father who was not involved in the details of our lives but he always cared. When I think about it, it was much better that he just tried to give us some basic direction about life, some important ethics and values to leave by, and then he let go. In some cases he was adamant about us following certain social norms but he was never a pain in the ass. He trusted us!

He never had anything bad to say about anyone! Always, with kind words and a smile on his face. People remember him for the proud, and quite an that he was. He was a family man!

We will miss you my friend but we will always remember you through good and bad. Everything that was your life will guide us through ours. Your legacy will be passed on to our kids and the people around us through the values you instilled in us.

Love you!

Swan song!

My father is sick! The doctors could have diagnosed my father's disease two years ago but they did not. However, I will not deal with the doctors' incompetence at this point! Now I am loosing my father! A gentle man who never had anything bad to say about anyone!

My father is 80 years old! Up until four weeks ago he walked 10Km a day, 5Km in the morning and 5Km in the afternoon. He was working from 3am to 10am every day except Sunday because as he was saying; work keeps you young! He could go about his daily routine without any problem and most importantly without help from anyone. Four weeks ago he was diagnosed with malignant metastatic cancer which started in his stomach with metastasis to his liver, lungs and possibly brain. In four weeks he lost 2/3's of his weight, he can no longer walk, go to the bathroom, take shower, eat, or do anything which four weeks ago he was taking for granted, without help. The worst is that my father is a person who cared about his personal health and two years ago when he had a short stay in the hospital for what it was described to us as a small stomach problem he already had the disease. These clueless doctors where incompetent at best if not reckless!

My father's life was colorful. He had some good times and some bad times. The worst was in 1974 when Turkey invaded Cyprus and my family became refugees with no home, no food, no work! My parents overcame the difficulties brought to them because of the invation and we had a good life. My parents, my sister and I had a loving relationship and we still do. We had some difficulties but our love for each other helped us overcome. My father was a good friend. I could tell him anything and he will always understand. He never offered his opinion with open arms, he was mostly a listener. Some times he was choosing the "glass half empty" road but he was rarely judgmental. People loved him! He was always polite and he was crazy about cleanliness! Sometimes he was heavy handed with my mom but that's who he was.

He is in the hospital now and we all try to make him as comfortable as possible. Each one of us in our own unique way. My mother is always sad and she just goes through the motions, my sister is serious and strong willed but sometimes she gets a little emotional, and I tease him a lot. I try to tell him stories while I take him to the bathroom, or when I clean him, or when I give him food. Sometimes he smiles and sometimes he gets upset. I just want him to be comfortable.

I know that soon I will loose my Dad but such is life. There is a beginning, a middle, and an end. I hope his life story makes him happy. I enjoyed all the moments with him, good and bad! He is in my heard and when he takes his final journey he will always remain in my heard. My Dad was above all a good human being. That's my Dad and I will always love him.

Reconnect

I have been absent from this blog for some time and a lot has transpired, which triggered my curiosity and no-shit juices, ever since! I am pretty certain that many things, good and bad, happen to all people but the life occurrences which trouble me most are the negative ones which could be avoided but they are not! The cliche that common sense is not so common dawns on me ever more often. I do not content that I am smart, or that I posses the ability or moral right to judge people, but I can tell you that in my book there are some people who do some very stupid things. I think that some people are so stupid that they should be legally forbidden to reproduce. Passing on stupid-DNA should be punishable by castration! I do not know if there is such a law anywhere in the world but maybe it is about time to consider such a remedy.

I think I mentioned before that I believe that the majority of the people walking the earth lack basic judgment, curiosity, intelligence! A good question could be; who defines good judgment, curiosity, and intelligence? I do not know but unless I have had a stroke, or alzheimer, or I am in general brain impaired, I could safely argue that 90% of the people are misfits. Yes, 90%! Next time you have a chance to look in the mirror (figuratively) try to figure out if you are a member of the 90% group or the 10% group. Do not be generous with yourself and if you are honest enough to face up to the possibility that you belong to the 90% there is hope for you. I look in the mirror all the time and still I do not know my group! So, good luck!

I do not want to mention anything specific but in due course I will write about my observations.

Street dogs are a social model worth evaluating

Did you ever invest the time to observe the street dogs roaming our neighborhoods? I did and what I found is extremely interesting. Some of the facts! These dogs are always dirty, they always seem to be happy, with few exceptions they are always healthy looking and in some cases overweight, they always look like they are rushing to get somewhere, they seem to know what they are doing and where they are going, they almost never fight, they can get a partner anytime-anywhere without many expectations, they take care of their little doggies, they find a way to spend the evening and the list goes on and on. What gets me the most is that these dogs do not look stressed at all, to the contrary they look extremely content and happy.

What if we (humans) follow the street dog lead and adopt some of their habits? We will have to take fewer showers, smile a little more, not work too hard to acquire unnecessary things, tell another person if we like them and in the case of the opposite sex express out desires with a howl, spend all day with our families playing around and scratching a lot, leave for the day and worry about tomorrow later, and in general have much less stress than we have now.

So, what do you think? Would you join the revolution, or maybe more appropriately; would you join the pack? Woof, woof!!!!!