My grandfather is in the hospital today, apparently not doing well. Please send Father’s Day get well wishes his way. He’s a kind and loving person, a talented painter, and an endless repository of Yiddish jokes.

When I last spoke with him a few weeks back, he shared this one:

A nice Jewish girl brings her fiance home to meet her parents. After dinner, her father invites the young man to the living room, for a glass of Schnapps.

“So, nu, what are your plans?” the father asks.

“I’m a Torah scholar,” the fiance replies.

“A Torah scholar,” the father says. “Admirable. But how will you provide a nice house for my daughter to live in, as she’s accustomed to?”

“I will study,” says the young man. “And God will provide for us.”

“And how will you buy her a beautiful engagement ring?” asks the father.

“I will concentrate on my studies,” the fiance replies, “and God will provide for us.”

“And children?” asks the father. “How will you support children?”

“Don’t worry, sir, God will provide,” replies the fiance.

So, the daughter and the fiance head home, and the mother asks the father, “nu, how was he?”

The father says, “well, he has no job and no plans, but the good news is he thinks I’m God.”

Get well, grandpa.

And, to my own father, best Father’s Day wishes and all my love.

It’s always worth being reminded that life is unpredictable, that we’d best appreciate, share time with, and love our friends and families while we can.