Wisdom of a ‘geezer dad’

Huntington Beach resident Larry Meyer reflects on the joys and trials of an aged father in an award-winning book.When Larry Meyer was about to turn 59, he received some unexpected news.

His second wife, Timarie, announced she was expecting.

The couple, who celebrated 20 years of marriage in August, already had two daughters, but the arrival of son Franz 13 years ago gave Meyer a total of six children, including three grown sons from a previous marriage.

“It was a life-altering moment, that’s for sure,” said Meyer, now 72. “It was unplanned but not unwanted. Our lives, my life, changed drastically -- and for the better.”

Meyer, a 24-year resident of Huntington Beach, left his position as a professor at Cal State Long Beach to become a stay-at-home dad while his wife returned to the work force.

And while he spent his time changing diapers, hearing Franz speak his first words and seeing him take his first steps, Meyer said he began to write notes -- love letters, if you will -- chronicling the experiences he’s had with his children throughout the years.

What began as a “depressed man’s” letter to his newborn son, he said, grew into a lasting legacy and the book “No Paltry Thing: Memoirs of a Geezer Dad.” In it, Meyer blends humor, honesty and charm as he talks about the joys and tribulations of parenthood.

“As I was writing these letters, I thought, nobody has written a book about the ups and downs of raising a child as an aged father,” said Meyer who, nearing 73, still attends Girl Scouts bridging ceremonies and Little League baseball games. “One thing led to another, and the book, like my youngest son, so to speak, was born.”

The book is his seventh. It has been named ForeWord magazine’s book of the year and is also a Writers Notes magazine book-award winner.

On Sept. 1, he sold an option for film rights to the book.

Among his previous books, his 1975 work “Shadow of a Continent” was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award. “My Summer with Molly: The Journal of a Second-Generation Father,” about one of his daughters who is now a sophomore at UC Berkeley, won the 1990 Benjamin Franklin Award for autobiography or biography.

Meyer said he wrote his latest book as a memoir of love to his children. It was a group project too -- family members sat around the kitchen table, he said, and worked on what turned out to be the illustrations in the book.

One of Meyer’s older sons, Karl, who has a twin brother, Kurt, designed the book’s jacket cover.

“The fear of death has always been with me,” Meyer said with a smile. “I wanted to leave a record of who I was for the children I brought into the world later in life, in case I wasn’t around. That was the premise for this book.”

On Thanksgiving Day, the entire clan will gather at the Meyer home. Meyer said he has plenty for which to be thankful, including lessons learned as a father the second time around.

“I have gained more knowledge as a father, but my physical resources are less,” he said. “I think that being an aged father has prolonged my life, saved my life. It gave it meaning.

“I call myself a successful father because all six of my children say, ‘I love you, dad.’ That’s a pretty good score. I’m very proud of that.”

As for more children, Meyer joked that the “world doesn’t need more from me.”

“But I welcome grandchildren,” he added, noting that he already has two. “Lots and lots of grandchildren.”

Which sets up, perhaps, another book.20051110ipo25kknKENT TREPTOW / INDEPENDENT(LA)Local resident Larry Meyer, author of seven books, has just published his latest, “No Paltry Thing: Memoirs of a Geezer Dad.” His sixth child was born when he was 59.