My Dad came to visit us about two years ago, his first time in TX.  He's an amateur photog and brought his camera and a few lenses with him. He mainly focuses his photography on nature and and some wildlife, so I thought one day we'd spend some time at the Dallas Arboretum. He also was interested in seeing downtown Dallas so we planned on going there after the Arb. My job was to take photos of him taking photos.

I wouldn't say my father is your typical 66 year old guy. He's a very laid back, "go with the flow" type of a person. Good natured, kind and generous, and will find something good out of almost any situation. I wouldn't go as far as to call him an "old hippie," but the Lennon specs, the pierced ear and his love for classic rock leads a lot of people to describe him as such.  He's also had his fair share of health battles...having part of a lung removed at age 21 and beating liver cancer in his early 40's. He still gets around fine despite his arthritis...just a little more slowly. 

We both fell into photography around the same time but completely independent of each other. Dad has lived in Miami for 25 years and isn't far from the Everglades. He's gotten a lot of interesting shots of the wildlife and scenery. 

So during his visit to Dallas and after spending some time at the Dallas Arb, we stopped for lunch and then walked around downtown. Dad noticed the sculpture in front of the Bank Of America building and stopped to get a picture. Seconds later security guards came rushing out and told us we weren't allowed to take any pictures of the building because it's the tallest bulilding in Dallas. However, we could go across the street and take all the pictures we wanted to.  Still doesn't make much sense, but we complied and kept walking. I got this shot just before the security guards pounced.    

 Pretty soon we found ourselves at Dealy Plaza, location of JFK's assassination. I'd been there a couple of times so I knew what to expect. On this day since the weather was so nice, all of the conspiracy nuts were walking around with their tape measures and lecturing anyone who cared to listen. Dad found it kind of amusing. We sat up on the grassy knoll and were just looking over the whole area taking an occasional photo. This was, after all, a place we've all seen on TV dozens of times. As we were sitting there Dad noticed the two black X's that were painted on the street. As I explained what they were for (marking the locations where JFK was actually shot), Dad just shook his head in disbelief. At that moment I took the pic you see below of him with a smirk on his face and the School Book Depository in the background. I laugh whenever I see this because it's just so "him." 

Anyway, the whole reason I'm talking about my father's visit is because he's having surgery today to have a tumor removed. Be sure to send him some good vibes.