Father's Day and Pompeii

Yesterday, my mom and dad met Rob and I at our local park to go see a museum exhibit on the last days of Pompeii. It was fantastic---a beautiful day in the park and a well-done, thoughtful exhibit inside the museum.

I think the part that stuck with me was how alike we are; even across the centuries, there really isn't that much that changes. People conduct business, parents raise children, the gods are worshipped (from Greece, Rome and elsewhere; the Romans were nothing if not largely accepting of other people's religions) and daily life goes on without really understanding how everything can change so quickly. And for them, it did; in the space of 24 hours, nearly all of the inhabitants of Pompeii were killed by a volcano which had been smoldering under their feet for centuries.

Which brings me to Father's Day. My dad is a very recent cancer survivor, and I know perfectly well that we're lucky he's alive here at all. And he is---pretty healthy too and getting on with his life. And I watched him play with his granddaughter and I thought that if everything changed tomorrow, at least he---and us---would have been able to have this.