91-year-old father is still full of surprises

The call came at 8:45, as it does each morning. Not my phone — my friend, Gene’s.

It was his dad. His 91-yearold dad. “We don’t actually say the words out loud,” Gene said, “But it’s his daily, ‘Yes, I’m alive’ call.”

Some days the calls are short. Some days longer. Monday was a chatty call. His dad felt like talking.

So, Gene shared his story from the night before on how he had splurged. He dug in his wallet to take his wife and teenage son to the Chicago Cubs playoff game at Wrigley Field. The Cubs defending their first World Championship title in 108 years. That’s quite a memory. This prompted Gene’s dad to share one of his. Again, he’s 91. Gene’s over 50. Surely, son has heard every story, just as you’ve heard your parents’ stories. Not so fast. “All of the sudden,” Gene shared, “Dad mentions the time before he met my mom that he saw Jackie Robinson play.”

Gene started doing the marriage math. His parents met around 1949. He asked his dad exactly what year did he see Jackie Robinson play? “Well, let’s see,” his dad thought for a minute. “I got out of the service in the summer of 1947. So that would have been the fall of 1947.” Gene had to double check what he thought he was hearing. “Dad, you saw Jackie Robinson, the first African-American ever to play in the major leagues, during the first season he ever played in the major leagues, at Wrigley Field, playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers, against the Cubs — and you were there for it. Is that right?” he asked.

“Yes, that’s right,” his Dad said. “I remember it was a very big deal.”

Yeah, you might say that. Big enough that you’d think Dad might’ve mentioned this story before. Only he hadn’t. A half-century of knowing his father. A halfcentury of hearing the same stories over and over again.

“You bite your tongue and listen politely, as if it’s the first time you’ve ever heard the story,” Gene said. “But every now and then, he blows you away with something like this.”

It has Gene looking even more forward to tomorrow morning’s call — and beyond. What other amazing unknown stories does Dad have? And yours, Dear Reader? It’s possible it takes a lifetime to learn what you hear from the time you’re a little kid.