June 8. Day 159. A fine mind

In the days before Google there was my Dad. Whenever there was something we didn't know, we'd ring Dad.
The joke was that between him Dad and his brother knew everything. If ever we found the great mind of Barry lacking he'd claim that was one his brother knew. As Eric, the nuclear physicist, lives in Sydney and they were rarely in the same place at the same time we didn't often get to test the theory but it was probably about right. Smart, smart men with an infinite capacity to learn AND retain things.
This is why it is such a cruel joke that Alzheimer's Disease killed my Dad, first robbing him of his greatest asset -  his fine mind. It is especially cruel that he was only 62 when he died, exactly 10 years ago today.
Where did that decade go?
So today I have been thinking a lot about my Dad. I thought about him as I strolled through the Lifeline Bookfest while The Boy looked for World history books for his reading pleasure. That's the sort of thing Dad would read in his spare time too. That gene clearly skipped a generation.
And tonight it's trivia night. That's the sort of place you really need someone like Dad. So I'll have a drink for Dad tonight and hope I've inherited just a little bit of that Barry brain. Failing that, I'll rely on having a laugh and a drink for Dad. Those are two things from Dad I know I can do. Cheers.