Today is that wonderful holiday invented by...well, I don't actually know who it was invented by (Hallmark, perhaps?)...where we celebrate dads.
At present, mine is still sleeping, enjoying a lazy Sunday morning in, so I thought I'd write a blog in his honor. He's 83, a Korean War veteran, retired accountant who is not so retired around tax season. I can blame him for my hazel eyes and propensity for anxiety when going new places, my love of the New York Yankees and my ability to remember things numeric but not names. Oh yeah, and he is good to the core, too, a person whose word is his bond and who genuinely seems to hold no malice toward anyone. These are the things I've not only observed firsthand but admired all my life.
After losing my mother, I realized that Mother's Day and Father's Day completely suck for those who have lost parents, or maybe never had them to begin with, but for those who still have either one, it is an opportunity to give thanks and express what we usually take for granted most of the time.
It is hard as we watch those we love age, to let go of a treasured past so that we can find beauty in the present moment, whatever it is. I remember the man who easily carried me on his shoulders into the kitchen for milk and cookies. And that is the same man whose walk is slow and labored now and who listens to the television at decibel levels that would scare small children. But I don't mind the slowing down part, because you get to notice things you normally wouldn't and that is a gift.
So today I am thankful. I am thankful that my father is still with me, thankful for all the quirky traits we share, for the person I became because he is my father, and thankful for the time I get to spend with him. He is a gift for which I am extremely grateful. And when I watch my brother with my niece, I know that he, too, took away what was most beautiful and important about my father.
So to all you dads out there, and to those of us celebrating them - Happy Father's Day!
Thanks for stopping by.
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