I’ve been missing my dad a lot lately. I’ll think of him at random times, especially on the weekends when he used to call me and chat for a few minutes. It was funny how he’d only stay on the phone for two or three minutes and he’d call both on Saturday and Sunday. But I’d give anything for a 2 minute phone call from him right now. Just one more.

For most of last year he didn’t call at all, because the dementia was stealing me away from him. I remember calling him on his birthday back in April of last year and he hung up on me because he didn’t know who I was.

My birthday was four days after his and he didn’t call. The last time I saw him was in September. The blank look on his face told me he didn’t know who I was, but that’s okay. I knew who he was.

We just finished season one of Master of None on Netflix and the second episode of the season was about parents. There’s a heartfelt scene where Dev, the lead character, and his friend decide to take their fathers out for dinner to show their appreciation to them and to listen to their stories.

The meal goes terribly wrong when the fathers have nothing to talk about but it eventually turns around and ends up being a very charming scene that brought tears to my eyes.

My father was the same way. If you asked him, he had nothing to talk about. But at random times in his life he always had a story to tell and we listened.  I wish I could listen now.