Last month's 35th anniversary without my daddy was the first I was not distraught or depressed and I attribute it to my job at EBDI. Being busy doing something so important quite simply crowded out the pain.
In this job, there's an element of homage to my father, who conveyed his great affection for Baltimore City to me. Every day on my way to work, as I pass through the intersection at Biddle and Maryland, I am at or within one block of at least half a dozen of his many enterprises, all housed in the old buildings he loved so much. His entrepreneurial, promotional spirit has motivated me for the twenty years I've operated various businesses and continues to inspire me as EBDI steams toward developing and hyping green, historic rehabs - the most profound act of tikkun olam (repairing the world) with which I have ever been associated. If Daddy were here, there's no doubt we'd be doing green rehabs as a private enterprise - and making a circus of it.
Sam Shapiro was reknowned for his perennial mayoral and congressional campaigns, highly publicized capers and hijinks, and the compulsion to express himself; there's no doubt I am my father's daughter and I am grateful for all that DNA. My tribute to him in Dan Rodricks' 2007 Father's Day column - that he taught me to love and revere old buildings; to be self-sufficient in case something happened to him (it did); to promote a cause (or myself) with humor and style; to be a Renaissance woman (otherwise known as giving in to your ADHD); and (inadvertently) that life is short, so have as much fun as possible - never rang truer.
Daddy, you sure did know how to have fun and corral others into having fun watching you having fun - and we sure could use more of that levity today. Thank you for being you and cluing me in on how to be me.
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