Today, March 6, would have been my late father’s 107th birthday. Those of you who personally knew Dad often tell me that you still think of him sitting at the piano, playing his repertoire of popular tunes, which included: Stardust, As Time Goes By, Over the Rainbow, Till There Was You, Phi Delt Bungalow,* and Back Home Again in Indiana. Oh, how Dad, even into his late 90s, loved to play the piano! And oh, how we all loved to hear him play!

I read recently that if you say out loud the name of a loved one who has passed on, he or she is brought especially close to you again. Today, I’m calling out my dad’s name and wishing him a very Happy Birthday. I know he is with me. I can almost hear the faint strains of his favorite songs, as he sits tickling the ivories on the keyboard of a heavenly piano.

Play on, Dad. We’re listening.

Love, Mary

*Phi Delt Bungalow

You may live in a marble palace, dear,
On a throne that was built just for you.
You may live in a tent in the Far Orient,
Or a vine-covered cottage for two.
You may spend all your life as a gypsy’s wife,
Or live in a French chateau,
But the love that is true,
It is waiting for you
In a Phi Delt bungalow.