For some reason I have been thinking of my family a lot lately.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150103296497460&set=t.100001072875886&type=1&theater

My dad was the one on the left. Characteristically of him, he did not want the spotlight even though he was sworn in as the first and only chairman of the American Trucking Association from the state of Maine.

He died last May and I miss him a lot more than I expected to. I still want to pick up the phone and call him. We talked on the phone a lot. Usually it was about frivolous stuff like sports. He was a lifelong Yankees fan. I gave him a hard time about those 5 long years since the Yankees last won the World Series. I think I understand it. He was born with nothing and for the rest of his life he cheered for the winning teams. The Yankees, the Lakers, He named me after his boyhood hero, Mickey Mantle. I imagine there are a lot of guys my age named or nicknamed Mickey.

The only disagreement with him I remember was when I called the second President Bush an idiot. It went back and forth until he hung up on me. He literally hung up the phone on me. I called him back a few minutes later and we made amends. We went back to sports.

If you have a parent you love and are grateful for, call them and tell them. Call them today. Because you don't know what tomorrow will bring.