Funerals are strange things. On the one hand you’re in bits because you’ve lost someone dear to you, and on the other you’re celebrating a life with people you haven’t seen in weeks, months, years and are really thrilled to be able to catch up with them.
My Dad was a Pharmacist, and this was probably one of the biggest influences in my life. Watching him mixing ointments and various remedies when I was a little girl was no doubt the beginnings of my interest in science and alchemy, which eventually led, via a very roundabout and involved pathway, to my becoming a chocolatier.
He ran his own business, which was profitable enough to put all three of us through private school and university and so, over the last few years, I’ve been able to bounce business ideas off him. Admittedly, some of his advice was based in an era where things were a lot less complicated – having to explain food labelling laws to a man who would stick a hand-written sticker which simply said ‘The Ointment’ onto a container, was a very long conversation.
I’ve had lots of wonderful comments from people who knew him – ‘a lovely man’ and ‘a true gentleman’ came up several times. The comment that ‘my mum had more faith in him than most of the local doctors’ made me laugh. I know that would have tickled Dad.
So, as it’s Father’s Day, here’s to you, Dad.
