Attitude of Gratitude

                         I recently watched Tony Luciani's TED talk about how his love of photography allowed him to see his aging mother in a new light. Through his beautiful photographs, he captured moments with his mother, who had dementia.  These sweet moments allowed the mother and son a chance to bond before her dementia progressed. This shared memory allowed me to reflect on my relationship with my father throughout his long goodbye.       My father was a professor of sociology, a lover of travel, a ferocious reader, and an all-around character. Growing up, we had weekly lunch dates at a small Persian cafe by the school, and we would discuss everything from his childhood battle with polio to religious philosophies. He was emphatic that his children could be anything that they wanted to be except uneducated. He had eternal faith in the people he loved, even when they gave him every reason to doubt their commitments.       He was diagnosed at the age of 65 with proba

           Perspective on this 65th Birthday           I can remember thinking that I would never go gracefully into my older years. If you asked me how I would age when I was in my twenties, I would have told you I would go kicking and screaming. I believed I would have weekly appointments for the latest miracle treatment to be applied to my entire body, and I would be searching down the best plastic surgeons in town.          The funny thing is, I can remember in my forties starting to see those smile lines permanently creasing my face, and I became fond of them. The furrow of my brow reminding me that I have survived raising children. My hands remind me of my mothers each time I look at them, and that makes me smile. You see my friends.......I have earned these creases and lines and bags and extra flaps of skin that have found their way onto my body.            I have found peace in my body that I spent all of my twenties hating and criticizing. This body and I have b