Grumpy at times, he doesn't say much and when he doesn't want to talk, he says, "No Comment, please!" He is the hardest working man I know and expresses his love with acts of service. Nothing brings him more joy than to beautify your surroundings with things you need and sometimes things you don't. Family and home is the most important thing in his life and there isn't anything he wouldn't do for you, if he thought it would help. Sometimes it has to be done his way but it's usually never a bad thing in the end. He can make you a bed with a secret shoe compartment, a backyard haven with built in cabinets, a garden like one in magazines, and even build a sturdy stand so you can hang the heavy bag you've been dying to punch on, in a place you thought had no more space. He's a mechanical and carpentry genius.
He loves his music dearly, appreciating each nuance of a drum or flute chiming in to timed perfection. He taps his toes and waves his hand as if he himself composed the piece and was conducting the band. Jazz, Salsa, Big Band, makes no difference. It's where he finds his peace.
No one can make you laugh harder than he can. With a sharp wit and play on words, you become an aching belly of roaring laughter when you hear the way he tells a story. He's developed his own vocabulary as he ends our time of grace at the table with "Barraroo. Barraroo." You might say he has the gift of speaking in tongues!
Always looking to restore old and dirty items into new and useful things that can be admired, he reminds me of Jesus. Taking our old and used up lives and making them a whole new creation that can be used for great things or small and sometimes just to be admired by the One who cleaned it up. If I asked Mr. Perez if he saw the similarities in who he is to the One who created him, he'd just reply with, "No comment, please."
I love you dad. Thank you. Happy Father's Day.
