Tomorrow's A National Holiday Celebrating George and My Father's Birthdays.

Tomorrow's a holiday; it's George Washington's birthday and it was also my father's.

I wish that I could have told my dad the exact kind of attention I wanted from him. Who knew? He was a well known and gifted surgeon. But he didn't want to know very much about the business of medicine. He performed miracles, saved patients from losing their sight and gave lots of his time to a free clinic, where he was really the happiest.

He also didn't want to know anything about taking care of minor house hold chores: fixing plugs or any other electrical gadgets around our home. And he didn't think that I needed to know anything he didn't know about or care about. While he did not live long enough to participate in the coming technological revolution, I know he would have participated in it, as he was an inventor of sorts.

He did care about the stock market and would discuss part of his investing with me. He decided one day to invite a stock person from New York to come to our home in Detroit. I asked my dad if this man was rich. He told me that he really didn't know and I ought to ask him when he came to dinner. I was eight. So I did and Anthony G. said, "No." That was the end of the man from New York and a real acknowledgment for me. I felt intuitively smart. That was a real gift from my father to me.

I am sure, however,that my father never thought that his daughter would want to start a business or become a social entrepreneur, which is now a huge challenge for me, one that I am struggling with daily.

I so would have liked him to give me opportunities to earn money for myself. I needed to feel that I was valuable, that my time was valuable and I could support myself, financially. I know that I am not alone in feeling that my earning muscle is far from developed.

I am voicing this now, so other fathers and daughters can realize that the kind of attention we get in our childhoods lives with us forever.