Contributor: Donal Mahoney

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Dead these many years,
Dad's still there for me
every day, pointing

from a star
toward excellence,
the goal we shared.

I missed two free throws once
at the end of a high school game
and we lost by a point.

On the way home
after the game, he said,
"Why did you miss

those free throws?"
Years later in college
I came home with all A's

and one B. I showed him
my grades and he said,
over his newspaper,

"Why did you get the B?"
After graduation I was thinking
about getting married but I

wasn't certain. So I asked him
what did he think. Once again
he was there for me.

Sipping his tea, he said
"You asked the girl, right?
Follow through."


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Donal Mahoney lives in St. Louis, Missouri.