This is one of my favorite pictures of my dad. Oh, he's a tease! See his look of delight as he pushes Elise to great heights in the tire swing? See her tentative smile but worried eyes and tight grip? Do you better understand now his look of delight? Yep, he is a tease. (She loved the swing, by the way.)
2nd Photo: May 2010
What do you get the man who has already bought everything ... at rock-bottom prices?
I asked him myself. "Dad," I explained in desperation, "I've really struck out coming up with a gift idea this year. Is there anything I can get for you?" (It felt like such a cop out. I felt terrible.)
He smiled, his special soft, reassuring smile. Just kind words, he answered. Kind words.
Perfect! I can DO words.
Yet every time I tried to compose the love for my father in a meaningful way, I couldn't do it justice. Heck, I couldn't do any typing or writing at all. I'd grasp a spare minute only to again have it commandeered by my children.
Samuel's interruption was the most pressing. The bloody footprints presaged his announcement, "Mommy, I hurt my toe." At first I couldn't even tell which foot was injured for all the blood, and I carried him to the bathroom sink. The faucet made him cry. The running water made him scream. His mom trying to hold him still beneath the stream made him shout, "I want Emma!"
Samuel was fighting me with all he had. Wedged high up in a hinged flap of skin on the cut was dirt the water couldn't dislodge, grit that I knew I must remove from the tender wound. This child was kicking and shrieking, but it had to be done. By me.
I drew from a sense of calm I'd seen as a child. And at that moment I knew how to form my tribute.
So, Dad, if you see me hug Samuel when you know he put me through the wringer (day in and day out!),
If you see me playing on top of the playground slide with my children,
If you see me remove the pressure by quietly setting aside the training wheels when today's lesson turned tearful,
If you see me ready to try again tomorrow,
If you see me stop to point out the intricacies of a spider web,
If you see me scratch my head at someone's homework problems but plow ahead anyway,
If you see me triumphantly say, "Hey, let's try another!"
If you see me make my children clean the campground (including the trash that was there before we arrived),
If you see me bite my lip and pause long enough to answer gently,
If you see me know how to tease smiles out of my children one minute but intently listen to them the next,
Then you will know how much you have shaped me, and how much I love you.
