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PAUL F. BEATINI: Barbie's Best Customer

 

Paul F. Beatini told his 3- year-old daughter Daria that Tuesday wasn't her first real day of preschool. It was only orientation. There was no way Daddy would miss Daria's first day of school, so he would bring her on the first real day, Thursday. That rationalization made sense for both of them and it made Paul, who worked with FM Global, an insurance company, feel better about keeping his morning meeting at Aon.

When Daria woke up on Thursday, she still remembered that Daddy was supposed to take her to school.

For Daria and her older sister, Julia, Daddy was the consummate playmate. He was a ravenous customer at Barbie's bakeshop, ordering multitudes of baguettes and fruit pies. The 6-foot, 6-inch man would pretend to be a rock star in the living room while his little brown-haired girls danced.

After a fulfilling day of play with his daughters, he used to say, "If I died tomorrow, I would die a happy man."

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From "Profiles in Grief" of The New York Times