Looking up my Past

 I remember my father’s first mentor at Levi’s.  it was Milton Grenbaum, and he was a sweet guy.  We all saw him a couple of times a year.  He was so friendly and so kind.  We didn’t like going there, but we knew it was an obligation we could not shirk. 

My father got a lot of information from Milton, and he never forgot his advice.  If we were there, we had to eat frogs’ legs or Snails or whatever was on the menu.  I hated it all, but I think Gary grew up to love all that stuff.  I knew we were beholden to him and his wife.  What made Dad so attractive to my friend?  They may have had a deep understanding of each other.  I know my mother never questioned it. 

My father needed mentoring, and he learned at the knee of Mr. Grenbaum.  What I missed, not knowing him better?  I’ll never know, because he never told.  But it was Important, I assume, because my father loved him until the day he died. The Grenbaums never had kids, or pets even, that I knew, but they had Dad.  My father didn’t have parents he admired, but he had Milton.  It was a two-way street.