CA Update - Al Zagofsky 1

Al Zagofsky, publisher
Al’s career includes work as: an engineer, a project manager, a raft guide, a publisher, a journalist, a bodywork/massage practitioner, and an Alexander Technique teacher. He plays guitar and banjo and enjoys songwriting.

Father’s Day

Last Sunday was Father’s Day—usually a day that I pay little attention to. But this year, I not only had an awareness of being a father, I came to an unexpected understanding about my father.

Before getting to my family stories, I have to announce that I sort of became a new father. A couple of months ago, maybe it was during the Covid pandemic, my wife, Adele, figured that being cooped indoors, maybe we should get a dog.

So she checked out a couple of places, among which was the Front Street Shelter in Sacramento. Adele filled out the forms and we took the online course in fostering.

Well, time passed, and recently, we both had Covid — now recovered, thank you, and unrelated to the Covid, or maybe not, can’t ever be sure, I guess maybe we softened up a bit and found that a pet might be worth considering.

So, the other day, we received an e-mail from the shelter that began, “We need your help!” It said, “Two of our buildings are currently under Parvo quarantine which largely reduced our space in the shelter. While some of the dogs needing placement may have been exposed, they are fully vaccinated and were not in direct contact with confirmed cases. To keep them safe and reduce stress in the shelter, we are hoping to place as many dogs as possible into temporary foster homes starting tomorrow.”

We had the paperwork and training, so I said to Adele. “Why not?” The e-mail said to come to the shelter Sunday between 2 and 5 p.m. She agreed, and I said let’s get there early and get our best choice.

We arrived the next day around 2:30 and it was nearly empty. Good that we came early, because a line formed minutes later. A staff member asked what we were looking for. Adele said, “A medium size dog.” I said, “We’d really like a Doddle.” Adele turned to me and whispered, You get what they have, and they probably won’t have what you want.

Turns out they did– a one year old, 18-pound male white poodle. Our last name is Zagofsky, and everyone in the family has a first, middle or last name beginning with the letter Z. So, we named him Zeke—but since he was a poodle, owing to his French heritage, I spelled it Zeque. He didn’t seem to care.

So, one more in the family; perfect for Father’s Day.

I later got a Father’s Day card delivered from my middle daughter. She had just returned from visiting her two sisters in the Bay area and between the three sisters, their husbands, and the four grandchildren, the card was 100% personalized—and very nice. The card’s cover showed a cartoon at a grocery checkout. “Sir, would you like your milk in a bag?” “No, leave it in a container.” I guess they are calling this a “Dad joke.”

So, this got me to thinking about my own dad. For a long time, I’ve been critical of the advice he had given me—he wanted me to be an engineer, mostly because a friend of his was an engineer and making good money.

There were other factors: like Dad was a truck mechanic, and it seemed to him that the next step up the career ladder would be mechanical engineering. There were other factors like I had grown up during the International Geophysical year—with the iconic Sputnik satellite, and I had done exceedingly well in math and physics.

The only thing was—I didn’t know or care anything about all what we now call STEM subjects. I wanted to be a comedian or a comedy writer—funny, huh?

But on this Father’s Day, I realized something. Dad was funny, and personable, and a leader—things that I had become by osmosis.

So, here I am, writing—maybe funny, maybe heartfelt, maybe not. But doing what makes me happy. And that is what’s important.

Happy Father’s Day Dad.

~ Al Zagofsky