Gov. Andrew Cuomo has lived nearly all of his adult life in public and, for the most part, remains an intensely private man. 

He is not a politician known for publicly emoting, nor is he someone prone to dwelling on what could or should have been like so many in elected office. 

But more than five years after his father, the late former Gov. Mario Cuomo died, the son is still very much publicly processing the grief he feels over losing the man he called pop. 

Cuomo in his eulogy for his father chastised the "dime store pyschologists" who anaylzed the relationship between an ambitious father and his son. But again and again in public Cuomo turns back to his dad, what his dad would do and what his dad might say -- thinkin that's not uncommon for people who lose their parents, no matter how old they are at the time. 

The governor was in Westchester County today at the bridge now named after his father to unveil a new bike and walking path. The bridge replaced the Tappan Zee, and the name in honor of his father was a move Cuomo helped to engineer through the Legislature. It angered locals in Westchester and Rockland counties who still refer to the new span by its old name. 

Mario Cuomo himself modestly once said he hoped they would name a stickball field after him in Queens.

But the younger Cuomo has shrugged the criticism off. Today, at any rate, was for some reflection on his dad's 88th birthday after months of a soaring death rate from coronavirus and the unrest over police brutality -- twin challenges that intersect at racial inequality. 

"I miss him very much. I miss him everyday," Cuomo said today. "But in a lot of ways, he's still with me."

The governor sits up late at night, thinking what his dad would say by way of counsel. 

"He gave me great advice and great comfort in some of the latest nights," Cuomo said. 

The bridge tonight is being lit up in blue, Cuomo said, his father's favorite color.