22 Comments
Dec 25, 2023Liked by Tanya Shaffer

So glad to read all this! Gripping! Keep freeing your words for us! The love overflows.

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Thanks so much, Lori!! So glad you enjoyed it! ❤️

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Oh wow! Magnificent! This is all about the deepest kind of love. So glad you decided to write. Your father comes to life with your story telling

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Thank you very much for reading and for your kind words, dear Janice. Big love to you.

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This is a remarkable piece, Tanya. How lucky you were. I

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Thanks so much, Barb! So glad you enjoyed it. ❤️

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Dec 8, 2023Liked by Tanya Shaffer

From an old high school classmate... Tanya, you're such a great storytyeller. I remember your Dad from around Lawrence as a kid. Thank you for a wonderful read; I couldn't stop until the very end....

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Thanks so much, Kevin! I remember well your gorgeous bass (baritone?) singing voice from "South Pacific." I so appreciate your reading and your comment.

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Dec 7, 2023Liked by Tanya Shaffer

Sorry for your loss. Thank him for his work with our kids (I don't have kids but I say that in an abstract sense to teachers).

I am both a concert promoter and high school basketball coach. Kansas Jayhawks you likely know are big in hoops. Here we have Becky Beacom whose grandfather was Phog Allen and the Haase's who played for KU but now coach Stanford and have a boy at Palo Alto High (whereas I coach JV assistant coach at rival Gunn of Palo Alto - -but I did meet Mrs Haase the other night, nice lady).

And in their honor -- but retroactively and as an exercise in -- what's the word for re-writing history? - -at the flea market of Alameda Sunday -- near Oakland - -near Berkeley where your Buddhist thing with Cynthia Shih workshopped -- I was there - and if you excuse the digression - I was also at the staged reading in SF of the Steve Jobs opera in the same month -- and my father had a business one mile from Apple for 20 years -- and bought for 3 zuzim a old beat up doll with a blue and white stripped K sweater and I was not sure if it was Kentucky or Kansas and then I left it in front of a 7-11 in Hayward -- my car -- which was my father's car -- it says PEW ZL -- which is Jewish for may his memory be a blessing -- his name was PEW -- ok, Paul -- and not to distract from Prof Harry -- gave me a "CHECK ENGINE" light so I pulled off the highway for a spell. Anyhow I sacrificed the K doll to the gods of Hayward people who pick up old toys in front of convenience markets in exchange for safe passage back to Palo Alto (I also have a cousin who died at the Jayhawk hotel but I will save that or keep my own counsel...)

Mark Weiss

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Thanks a lot for your note, Mark! Lots of Kansas connections, to be sure! Glad you caught Vienna and my musical as well. Warmly, Tanya

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Thank you so much! I thought I would just read a little and then stop. Nope. Storytelling at its best.

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Thank you so much, Cynthia! I'm so glad you enjoyed it. ❤️

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This is so beautiful, Tanya. You paint such a wonderful, vivid picture of your father. So interesting about his departure from U of A, too. And the photo of your little one does look so much like the photo of Flocki as a child, dressed all in white.

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Thanks so much, Michelle! So glad you enjoyed it.

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You made me love your dad here! The way your present him to us captures his energy and your love for him.

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Thanks so much, Susan! You heard a bit of this in development, I think! :-)

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Dec 6, 2023Liked by Tanya Shaffer

Loved reading every moment of this. Thanks so much!

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Thank you so much, Linda. So glad you enjoyed it!

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Dec 6, 2023Liked by Tanya Shaffer

This is so beautiful, Tanya. .

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Thank you so much, Stephen.

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Deine liebevollen Worte berühren mich so. Meine Mutter ist vor 3 Monaten gestorben, und alles ist so surreal. Ich bin so verletzlich geworden, ohne sie. Jeder muss sterben, aber wenn es dann soweit ist, ist man doch unvorbereitet und überwältigt von Schmerz und endloser Liebe...

Liebe Gruesse aus Berlin, Simone

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Vielen Dank, Simone. Das tut mir sehr leid das deine liebe Mutter gestorben ist. Ich schicke Dir alle Liebe. Mögen ihre Andenken ein Segen sein. ❤️

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