Father’s Day with Heinz
As I now sit down to write this post, I recall one of my earliest memories of my dad, which took place in a small stairwell at the Getty Villa.
In this photo, I’m next to Heinz and that stairwell is at the back of the long corridor behind us. And in my early memory, over forty years before, I was riding on his shoulders: “flying,” in his words, up and down those very stairs.
As I recall, we took quite a few visits to the Getty Villa, and our flights in that stairwell were always the highlight.
Growing up, my dad supported me in many other flights. At first we flew air pressure and water powered rockets. Later we launched model rockets with gun power cartridge engines.
By middle school and high school, he was supporting my flights through the world of sleight of hand magic, often driving me to gigs all over LA, including many late nights at the Magic Castle in Hollywood. And later we flew together around the world even, to magic competitions taking me as far as Dresden, Germany.
Heinz remained always by my side and supporting me to develop my passion for magic. And when in college I began to shift from magic to meditation, from performing sleight of hand to examining my own sleight of mind, flying to Buddhist temples and monasteries around the country and the world — although no longer physically alongside me, my dad remained beside me in spirit, never pressuring me towards a more conventional, or lucrative life path, even when I eventually shaved my head to become a monk.
In Buddhism, filial respect is a central teaching. As we strive to cultivate meditation and purify our minds, we are encouraged to share whatever merit we generate with our parents. And expanding from there, we learn to see all living beings as our past lives parents, sharing the merit we accrue with them as well, hoping to repay some of the kindness they showed in raising us.
Building this website to share my dad’s art is also a small token of appreciation, dedicated to him with love and gratitude for all his care and support over the years.
Our recent trip to the Getty Villa was about a year and a half ago now, in the pre-fire days when my parents still lived in Pacific Palisades. During this trip, we revisited some of the artwork and architecture of antiquity, which was always a source of inspiration for Heinz. I’m reminded of our summer trips to Europe when I was growing up, visiting family in Switzerland, and then touring around nearby countries. I especially have fond memories of several visits to the south of France, where we explored small villages of the Provence.
I remember one of our day trips included a visit to the Pont du Gard, an aqueduct built in the first century, during the Roman Empire. (Heinz’ sketch of the Pont du Gard on the right, however, is actually from a later trip when Heinz and Ruth visited the aqueduct again in 2004.)
Please click the button below to view a few new products we’ve just created using this image. In addition to framed prints, we also have greeting cards, a tee shirt, and a mug.
Happy Father’s Day!