#5 / Taken By Surprise

I was taken by surprise by an obituary that appeared in the Santa Cruz Sentinel on Friday, January 4, 2019. John Dizikes, pictured above, was born on November 8, 1932, and died on December 26, 2018, which just happens to have been my seventy-fifth birthday. 

In my blog posting on my birthday, I was counting my blessings, among them being, most importantly, the people I have known. As I said then, most of the people who have been a blessing in my life were not listed specifically. That would have been a long list, but had I endeavored to provide such a list, John Dizikes would surely have been right near the top. This is not because John and I had an uncommonly strong or frequent connection; it is because John Dizikes was such a decent, caring,  generous, and vital person that every infrequent contact I had with him enriched my life. 

I think I last encountered John during an intermission at the San Francisco Opera (he was an expert on Opera and musical theatre), and we enjoyed a quick conversation that was uplifting in our mutual acknowledgment of how happy we were to be alive, to have been given that gift of life, with all its attributes, good music and engagement in the community being among them. 

I was taken by surprise to hear that John is now gone. A salute to him, and to his equally wonderful wife, Ann. John enriched my life - without even trying. As I think about it, I think we all may do that, perhaps never even knowing that our existence in this world is a blessing to others, to those whom we know and meet, though they may never tell us so. 

As on my seventy-fifth birthday, I want to tell you now, all of you, those whom I know, and have known. Like John Dizikes, you have all been a great blessing in my life, and many thanks!

Well my ship's been split to splinters and it's sinking fast
I'm drownin' in the poison, got no future, got no past
But my heart is not weary, it's light and it's free
I've got nothin' but affection for all those who've sailed with me

     - Bob Dylan, Mississippi 

Image Credit:

https://prabook.com/web/john.dizikes/3740937