Diary of a Clown/ Happy Birthday to Dad

Happy Birthday Dad!

I just finished telling this story to one of my fellow Clown/ Singing Messenger friends who had just lost his mom and said he doesn’t think he’ll be able to work on her Birthday.
I lost my Dad about 12 years ago. On the first Birthday since his death, I was asked to deliver a Singing Telegram. I downright refused telling my boss the exact reason, but she begged me and gave me pep talk at the same time since it was short notice and no one else was available. I finally agreed to do it and still felt guilty and down about it.

As I was getting ready to go on my Singing Telegram, I got a call to do another Telegram in the same part of town, so I agreed to take it.
I got to my first Telegram, and as I’m singing, I noticed that the 10 year old Birthday Boy I was singing to, bared a striking resemblance to my dad in childhood pictures I had seen of him. He was skinny with dark thick hair, a long nose and crossed eyes.

When I got to my second Telegram, my recipient was about fifteen years older than the last recipient. This recipient looked a lot like the way I remember my dad looking on his old navy pictures as well as his early dating pictures with my mom. Again, being skinny with a long nose and dark curly hair but this time having glasses.
As soon as I got home from my Telegrams that day, another agent called me to do another Singing Telegram in the evening. This recipient was heavy with a long nose, glasses and a bald spot in the middle of his graying dark curly hair which is a lot like what I remember my dad looking like in his later years.

Just to let you know, with the exception of the money making eighties and Valentine Day, it’s pretty unusual to have three singing telegrams in one day, let alone all three being for guys that all looked like my dad in various stages of his life!

Was it a coincidence that this all happened on my dad’s first Birthday since his death, or was
this my Dad’s way of letting me know that he had a good life and he was now at peace? Whatever the case, it was a great way to remember him. I finished off my day by singing “Happy Birthday to Dad”.