Remembering my dad, Robert Sandler, 1923-2010

Sorry I haven't blogged in so long. First, I had dental complications that sidelined me for a couple of months. Then, on December 10th, my father had a stroke. He died peacefully on December 18th at age 87. I was able to visit him in the hospital and hold his hand and talk to him almost every day during that last week, which I'm so glad I got to do. But now we're all just wandering around with a hole in our hearts. It's hard. But the other day I read Amber's blog and she said she hoped I'd start blogging again soon. So here goes.

I'm going to start with the only re-creation I got to do with my father. I had several more "father and daughter" re-creations planned and I know he would have done them with me if I asked, but it wasn't to be.

Robert took this picture last August on a sunny afternoon just outside Dad and Bernice's home in Kendall. To see the original blog post about it, click here.

Now I'm going to break the rules and just show some pictures as a tribute to my father. There are a lot of pictures, but hey, 87 years is a long time!

1940 - Here's my father in June 1940 at age 16. Look at all that hair!

1944 - Here he is in WWII in Mezieres, France.

1949 - Here's my father getting his bachelor's degree at Ohio University.

1954 - Here's a picture of my father with me and my brother Jeff in Boston, Massachusetts.

1958 - Here's a picture of my father with Jeff and me in Coral Gables.

1964 - Here's another one with Jeff and me taken a few years later in Westchester.

1974 - Here's my father and my mother Toby with me, Eric, and Julian shortly before their divorce.

1976 - Here's a picture of my father celebrating his 53rd birthday with us in November at our house in Hollywood.

1978 - Here he is with Amber at her second birthday party. In November that year, we moved to Seattle.

1979 - Here's my father celebrating Thanksgiving with us in 1979 in Seattle. That's our dog Honey Boo helping him warm up his cold Florida toes at our fireplace. My father was always great with our family dogs.

1983 - Here's a picture of my father, me, Bernice, and Amber at Mt. Rainier.

1986 - Here's my father and Bernice's wedding picture, June 21, 1986.

1988 - This picture was taken during my father and Bernice's visit to Seattle for Julian's high school graduation.

1989 - They came up again a year later for Eric's high school graduation.

1989 - And here's...wait a minute...that's still Eric's graduation.

1992 - Here's Dad celebrating his 69th birthday with us at our Lake Desire home in Renton, Washington.

1992 - And here's a group picture from that same trip. That's Amber, Bernice, me, my father, and our sweet pooch Hilly.

1995 - This is from Dad and Bernice's trip to Seattle for Amber's high school graduation and Maren's college graduation. That's Maren, Julian, Dad, Bernice, me and Amber.

1996 - In January, Robert and I visited Florida and Dad took us to the MetroZoo.

1996 - In September, our first grandchild - my father's first great-grandchild - was born. Here's Amber, me, Robert, Julian, Bernice, and Dad with Preston.

1997 - On July 12, 1997, Amber and Chuck got married. Naturally, my father and Bernice came up for the occasion. Here they are with and Chuck and Amber at the reception.

1999 - Here we are during a trip Robert and I took to Florida. I wanted to move back, but it would be another several years before we could.

2000 - Here's a group picture from another trip Dad and Bernice took to Seattle. That's cute little Hansen peeking out in the middle, who was born in January.

2000 - Here's a great picture of Dad and Preston taken during that same visit. A copy of it hangs on his office wall in his house in Kendall.

2003 - This is the year Amber and I took a trip to Florida together. Here we are with my father in his driveway.

2004 - Here's a picture of Dad, me, and Bernice at the Deli Den in Hollywood in March. That's the year Robert and I moved back to Florida.

2005 - Here's my father celebrating his 82nd birthday with Lynda Anapol, Bernice's daughter-in-law, whose birthday, like my father's, falls right around Thanksgiving. For several years, we celebrated Thanksgiving and the two birthdays together at Howard and Lynda's house in Miami.

2005 - Here's Dad, me, and Robert from that same day.

2006 - Here's a picture of Dad and Bernice at Robert's 60th birthday party in March at our house in Hollywood.

2006 - Here's Dad with Freddie, our sweet German Shepherd. This picture was taken in July and is the very last picture ever taken of Freddie, who died a few months later.

2007 - In early November, Julian came down for a visit. My father cried when it was time to say goodbye to Julian. I think he knew he'd never see him again.

2007 - Celebrating Dad's 84th birthday and Thanksgiving at the Anapol's.

2008 - In June, Dad and Bernice came up to meet Joey, our Golden Retriever. Aw...

2008 - Here's a picture of Dad with Aurora, his fourth great-grandchild, who was born in April that year. Amber and Aurora visited from Austin in September.

2008 - Celebrating Dad's 85th birthday in November.

2009 - Amber, Chuck, and Aurora all visited in the fall. Here's Robert, Chuck, Aurora, and Dad.

2010 - This picture was taken on May 7th at Temple Beth Am, where my father was honored with the Talmud Torah Award. Afterwards he told me, "You were the first one to come up and give me a kiss."

2010 - I love this picture of my father and Joey. It was taken in May when my father stayed with us for a few days while Bernice was recovering from shoulder surgery. Joey adored Grandpa Sandler, and the feeling was mutual.

2010 - Here's a nice picture of my father and Bernice taken last June on their 24th wedding anniversary.

2010 - This picture was taken last September when Amber, Chuck, and Aurora visited. Naturally we all went down to visit Grandpa and Bernice.

Finally, I want to end with a picture I took at Hollywood Beach during my father's visit with us last May. I'm so glad I brought my camera that day.

As I said at the funeral, my father was a man of many accomplishments. He was a college professor, a writer, a tennis player, and much more. But to me, he was simply my father, the rock of my life. I couldn't have asked for a better father. I loved him very much. I sure will miss him.