Presence and Presents

I meant to just post real quick and ask a question but when I signed in and saw that it was June 16th, I realized that today would have been my Dad's birthday. And it would have been the BIG 6-0. Woah. Isn't it weird that to me, my dad will never be 60 or 70 or 80. He will always stay in his early 50's. He actually passed away when he was 51 but one of the people speaking at the funeral said he was 52 by mistake (he was born in 1945 and died in 1997 so I guess they got confused) but when I try to remember how old he was, I always think 52 until I catch myself. I figured the Zacks clan would like that funeral story. :)
So Happy Birthday to my Dad.
Speaking of whom, that brings up Yizkor. Because of my catchy title, I wish I could say something like I felt my Dad's "presence" during Yizkor but I didn't. Probably because there were too many people there!!! Apparently, the "latest thing" at Young Israel shuls is for everyone to come in at the end of Yizkor and hear it for the 6 million Jews and/or the Fallen Israeli soldiers. Maybe it's supposed to be a beautiful thing so we can all remember their souls together....or something??? But I do NOT like this concept. I imagine that it's a little creepy for you non-yizkor saying people to come in and hear the whole "Kal Maleh Rachamim" in that chazan voice. And for me, a Yizkor-saying person, I prefer to have my bit of space and quiet for a moment so I can reflect and remember my people. That's the way I feel Yizkor should be. Not a crowded room with everyone looking around and trying to figure out what page we are on and why exactly they are inside if Yizkor is still going on. I feel that it's an intrusion. Selfish? Maybe. So those are my Yizkor thoughts.
I'll post my question in the next blog because it just doesn't fit here....