In celebration of Father's Day on Sunday June 17, we asked Patch readers to write a letter to their father and let us deliver it. This is Ann Sonz Matranga's letter to her dad:
The song Leader of the Band by Dan Fogelberg reminds me of my father, Ben Sonz. He lived at The Redwoods in Mill Valley for the last seven years of a happy life and passed away in 2005. As the lyric goes, he gave me "gifts I never can repay." He gave me music because he sang to me often, and he gave me road stories because he travelled often for work and I would be eager for him to come home and tell me about some city or other ... And yes, he gave me freedom when it came my time to go.
It couldn't have been easy, because I was a wild kid for a girl, but he kind of cheered me on .... And it's not in this song, but he gave me his friendliness, a gift - a legacy - I treasure.
"I thank you for the music and your stories of the road
I thank you for the freedom when it came my time to go
I thank you for the kindness and the times when you got tough
And Papa, I don't think I said I love you near enough"
—Ann Sonz Matranga
See all Father's Day letters here.
Image Credit: Ann Sonz Matranga— My father, Ben Sonz, with me, his grandchildren (my kids) Jonah and Kaela, and Hannah, his "great!" great-granddaughter as he liked to say, at The Redwoods in Mill Valley, around 2002.
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