Eric Smith ‘99 wishes his father a posthumous Happy Birthday. My own father (class of ‘58) is in town for an 18 hour visit. Swim in the hotel pool with the granddaughters, dinner with the family, perhaps a little snowman-making tomorrow morning — although Mom will probably be in charge of that.

Such a brief visit can be taxing for all concerned, of course. Leave work early, pick up the kids, remember their bathing suits, find parking, and so on. But the classic song to keep in mind is Cats in the Cradle.

And the cat’s in the cradle and the silver spoon,
Little boy blue and the man in the moon.
“When you coming home, son?” “I don’t know when,
But we’ll get together then, dad.
You know we’ll have a good time then.”

No. We’re going to have a good time now.