Z is for Zamperini

My sister and I presented our father with a new piece of technology today. Before he opened the package completely, my sister offered some advice: "Don't freak out over it. We'll show you what to do."

The Amazon Echo Show is a small monitor that connects to everyone's favorite nosy houseguest, "Alexa". Yes, there's a lot Alexa can do-besides all that creepy eavesdropping. Jeen and I bought it for only one function- the ability to hear audiobooks.

At 85 my dad has a hard time reading much. Even with bigger fonts for the elders he still has difficulty tracking the words. It's a shame because up until a few years ago he was an avid reader. Retirement gave him the opportunity to catch up on quite a few books that he never got to with a big deal office job taking up most of his time.

It didn't take too long to set up the device and before long I had created an Amazon account for my dad so I could download a book to his device. We wanted to make sure Dad's first audiobook was a good one- the kind that would definitely keep him interested. There was only one story I could think of that fit the bill. It was Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand.

Unbroken is the story of Louis Zamperini- the Olympic track star and World War II hero who survived a plane crash in the Pacific, floated around for 47 days only to be captured by the Japanese. Louis spent over two and a half years in Japanese POW camps at the hands of some rather brutal captors.

I listened to the book a few years ago and was transfixed with the story from the beginning. I'm sure my dad will find the story as interesting as I did and look forward to talking to him about the story.

As I was leaving I confessed to my sister that I was a little jealous that he gets to enjoy Louis and his story for the first time. Who knows, maybe I'll listen to it again this summer. Certainly being reminded of everything Louis went through might give me a little needed perspective as I continue living my own life during a pandemic.

Life Lesson: Some stories are worth hearing more than once.