He was a college president when I was a young teen. They didn’t make mixed bifocal glasses back then so he had half-glasses for reading. I have the new ones and they’re very expensive and don’t work for much.
Sliding the glasses down his nose he would look out with brilliant blue eyes and stare. It was imposing and remarkable how much fear he could instill. With a marshmallow interior.
Our dog stares now, with brown eyes, until we do what she wants.
My Dad, with the blue eyes, scared the s*** out of every boy I ever dated, except my husband of nearly 15 years.
On an political campaign in the 80’s I was helping a local win an election he could never achieve. I took a vacation, stayed back home with my folks and we worked it. Election night we didn’t have computers, just a chalk board back in the office.
I was in the office alone and a call came in. He said his name was Dan. I asked “what can I do for you, Mr. Majority Leader?” He asked who I was and I stated that he would never know me. “What’s your name?” I answered and he said I know who you are. You have your father’s eyes.
In the next room, without being told, I said to the candidate to come right away, that his boss was calling. He was there for 30 years and was the most honest and dedicated elected official I have ever met.
I got the job because my father of the blue eyes called our rep, I got a low-level position but was a policy analyst, learned a lot and had a family of compatriots. Kind of a Joseph and the Multi-Colored Dream Coat. We were all smart and made the elected officials look good with working papers at a third-grade level. We shared everything for content and editing as each of us had a specific area of expertise. NYTimes is sixth grade. All hail Dad! Dee
ps In the slower season we did crossword puzzles every Friday at 5:00. NYTimes.
Cooking with Dee 