Ash Wednesday

Looking back,I see my father as the strongest influence on my Catholicism.It was he who sent us to the nuns to learn the catechism.He took us to confession every Saturday and Mass every Sunday.
But,it's odd.....he never took us to midnight Mass at Christmas or Mass on Ash Wednesday.Today is Ash Wednesday and I can't imagine not going to Mass .My wife will be there with me and we will take our son.Was my father too busy with work then or did he not appreciate the significance of the day?Some many things I want to ask him but can't.
All I can do now is pray for him and for my mother.He's been dead nearly forty years....my mother, almost twenty seven years.
Memento homo, quia pulvis es, et in pulverem reverteris