Twenty Years

Twenty years ago today, my father died.

Jimmy Joe Berryman died of leukemia on July 23rd, 1988, one month before my first child was born.  Amy will be twenty on August 26th.  This will not be a long remembrance, but I should at least say that Dad has traveled with me a lot over the years, especially during performances of Leaving Ruin.  There is a spot at the end of the play where Cyrus simply utters the word “Dad,” and imaginatively, it’s always my Dad standing there, usually leaning on a door frame at the back of the theatre.   It’s also his physicality I bring to the stage for Cyrus, so his ambling and loping have remained with me all these years.  I’ve written about my feelings for his faithfulness and goodness elsewhere, but I just wanted to stop and say his name into the world again.  He made a difference.

Miss you Dad…wait’ll you meet my kids…