I was always a Daddy's girl. My earliest memories include waiting eagerly for Daddy to get home from work, and then following him wherever he went. In the spring and summer, it was outside to weed the flower beds, or water the yard, and in the winter it was to the green house to check on the plants. My favorite place to be in the evenings was in his lap. I loved my daddy.
Daddy was a man of many talents and hobbies. He loved to go fishing, and I often accompanied him to the lake. I didn't really like fishing, but I would take a book, and read while he fished. It was really more about just being with him. He also loved astronomy, and educated himself through books about the great big sky. He even built a telescope - a big one. He ground the mirrors, and lenses, and made everything himself - no kit assembly with him! I still have that telescope he made, and I think of him every time I walk outside on a clear night and look up at the sky. He could tell you the name of every star, and every constellation. Similarly, he loved gardening, and his yard always looked like something out of Better Homes & Gardens magazine.
Being musical was not really his forte', but he did have a harmonica. He saved his money and bought it through a mail-order catalog when he was a boy, and he taught himself how to play it. He could play any song you asked him to, and he taught me how to play it as well. I have that now, too, and it is one of my most treasured possessions. Daddy loved any kind of building or woodwork, and when I was pregnant with the girls he fashioned for us a cradle. It is beautiful, and I know our children will enjoy using it again someday for their children. And Daddy loved books. He was an avid reader, and as a result had a great amount of knowledge about a lot of things. His favorite book was the Bible, and he knew it intimately.
Daddy loved his family, and adored his grandchildren. After he retired, he would often call me from his cell phone during the day when the kids were at school. (He was never one to talk much on the phone - he said he was trying to use up his minutes so that he wouldn't waste them.) I loved those phone calls. They always started out the same - I would answer the phone, and his first response was always, "What's going on over there?" Quickly followed by, "How are the little shavers?" He also loved his mother, and when she reached an age where moving to a nursing home was necessary, he would visit her every morning, and brush her false teeth for her.
But there was something even more remarkable than all of that about my daddy. He loved God. He had a sincere heart, and his utmost desire in life that motivated everything he did was pleasing His Creator. He served as an elder in two different congregations, and he served humbly. He made sure that our first priority as his family was always our service to God.
I'll never forget the night of October 6, 2003, and can still physically feel how I felt like I had been punched in the stomach when my brother called me with the news that Daddy had been in an accident, and he had not survived. He was 68. I miss him still. I wish he could've been here to watch his grandchildren grow up - he would be so proud of the wonderful Christian young people they have become. And there are still times that I have questions about life when I wish I could just call and ask my daddy. After 9 years, I have learned that I will always miss him. But the grief and pain of that October night has softened with time, and I remember him now much more with smiles than with tears, as I think on his life and legacy instead of the way he died.
I'm thankful for my daddy, and that is quite an understatement. I truly had the best. He taught me more about life than anyone else ever has or ever will. He showed me the value in this life of living for God, and the blessings that come as a result. By being a loving father, he gave me my first and most important impression of the true nature of my Heavenly Father. And he also taught me the blessing you can give to your family by such service to God - not only in life, but also in death, as you leave them with calm peace in the knowledge of your eternal destiny. I know where my daddy is now, and I have the blessed assurance of seeing him again someday - the greatest blessing I could ever hope to have.
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