Rebecca Metz Instagram – As much time as I’ve had to prepare and process, and as many friends as have written similar words in recent weeks and months, it’s hard to wrap my mind around what I’m about to say.
This past Thursday, May 30, we said goodbye to my dad, Jerry Metz.
Since being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in November 2021, he’d been living a remarkably full and busy life until quite recently. Despite chemo, radiation, and more hospitalizations, surgeries, and setbacks than he willingly admitted, he squeezed in a dream trip to France with mom, Andy, and me, Spain and Portugal with mom, several visits to us in Los Angeles, continued rehearsing and performing with Monmouth Civic Chorus and Princeton Pro Musica, and working on his endless list of projects at the cabin in the Berkshires. In a few months, he and mom would have marked their 54th anniversary, more in love than ever.
I could tell he was powering through more pain than he let on, but that was dad. He loved his life too much to slow down until he had no choice, and when that time came, we said goodbye at home, all together, on his terms, which anyone who knew him will understand is exactly as it should be.
We loved each other madly and drove each other (and my mother) crazy because one of the many things I inherited from him is his tenacity–or unshakable stubbornness, depending on your perspective. As people keep telling me, my eyes, my voice, my mannerisms, and so many things that are me were also… him. All my life, anyone who knew him took one look at me and knew I was his kid.
It’s going to take a long, long time to get used to being in the world without him, but I already hear him in my mind and heart, answering questions I didn’t ask, filling us in on the latest cooking techniques he learned from Jacques Pepin, and telling me how to do things I’ve known how to do for decades–all in that rich, beautiful, booming voice that resonates over every other sound in the world.
Anyone wishing to honor him, please consider supporting @monmouthcivicchorusnj @princetonpromusica and/or @compassionandchoices
And *please*, if you have Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry, get tested for BRCA 1 & 2. ❤️ | Posted on 02/Jun/2024 22:44:47
