I awoke this morning and opened my shades. Outside there is a slight dusting of Spring snow, a cold crisp morning in the mountains, my daffodils peeking up from their long winter slumber, the robins busily building their new nest.
Looking out onto the field of tall pine trees behind my house, I see my father's 1984 Buick station wagon. It arrived last night from Hawaii.
It has made a long seaward journey, twice. He would have liked that, he often spoke about being on the "big ocean". As a child, he would tell me about the huge waves crashing against the side of the boat, making the boat bob up and down. How terribly seasick he got, and yet, how being on the ocean was an adventure for him that he never forgot.
His eyes would light up when he told me about being on the deck at night, and how small he felt against a backdrop of shooting stars and moving planets.
My dad would be pleased that his car made this journey. My dad's life was spent in cars. As a chauffeur, his car was his office.
As I gaze outside and look closely at it, the same car that he was so proud of, that he spent so much of his life cleaning and polishing, I can almost see him there in the driver's seat.
He is wearing his dark blue pin-striped suit, with a tie that I sewed for him in high school,
It doesn't quite match, but he is proud to wear anyway. His hair is neatly combed to one side. I can still remember the smell of the pomade that he used. I recall how his after shave lingered in the air as he walked down the hallway in the morning, whistling on his way to work. His Buick waiting there for him, like a good friend.
He traveled a lot, sometimes being gone for days at a time. I always remember running into his arms after he had returned. He would lift me high up in the air, kiss me and say "your daddy is home now". I would always ask him what he had brought back from his travels for me. There was usually a chocolate bar, or a small piece of jewelry that he had carried back with him. He would open my hand and place the gift inside it.
It was always a comfort to me that he had returned home after a long journey.
Now he is home, but he is not here.
The gift he has brought back this time are the memories of our time together,
The immense joy he brought into my life, the precious moments that were spent filled with laughter and tenderness. It is the best gift he has ever brought me.,
These are the memories that will never fade with time, like the paint on his old Buick. They are deep, timeless, etched into my being, like the small creases of his car. They remain very much alive within me.
The sun is peeking out from behind a cloud, almost as if he were saying hello from heaven, smiling down, with his pipe in hand, saying to me "your daddy is home".
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2 comments:
You often bring a smile to my face and warmth to my heart. We are apart, but we are together. God is the One Mind and the Mind of God, through the Holy Spirit knows no boundaries, no barriers. There
is only the Oneness of God's Love. Here, now and everywhere. Your father is still very much alive. I remember his car well. I remember him in the car. It seems appropriate that his car is back with you after all these years.
When my father died 2 years ago, I never felt I had lost him. He was such a good Christian man. I know he is still alive. When I was a little boy, he would get up early before the rest of the family and
pack the car for a trip. Then he would wake us up and we would sleep in the car until later we would awake in the car on our way to see our
grandparents. I know, without one iota of doubt that my father has traveled ahead to prepare a place for us when we arrive on the other
side. So even though he is not here, he is not far. Even though he doesn't have an earthly body, I know without a shadow of doubt that he
has a new body in heaven. And I also know, that when I arrive there in heaven he will have a home ready for us and a table prepared for
us.
"John 14:1-3 Let not your heart be troubled, ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also."
I LOVE this promise. I love knowing He has prepared a place for us.
Not an ordinary place but a mansion.
I Love His promise of Oneness - "That they all may be one as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us."
John 17:21
We are One in Him, in Them - Father, Son, Holy Spirit. He is risen. Happy Easter.
Thank you for that. It was absolutely beautiful, though bringing a tear to my eye. How fortunate we both are to have the honor of such loving and kind parents that shape our persons and enrich our existence.
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