Father's Day

It certainly was not planned. No where was it projected that I would drive on this day the last car my father drove before he got sick.

While he was still alive we sold the nicer car, but his everyday around town car has been parked at Witt and Claire's, until this weekend. It is time to sell this car too and we are thinking about purchasing it for Alan. Alan's car is older and a gas guzzler, a smaller gas friendly vehicle for him would be a good thing, especially when he begins to pay his own bills! We will not get into that matter here, he still has one more semester of school before that becomes a reality.

I got behind the wheel, turned the key in the ignition, put the car into reverse and backed out of my driveway. The children and I headed over to visit with my mother and the emotions that washed over me came unexpectedly as if I had caught the back draft of a hot and heavy wind. I viewed the tiny compass he had placed in the car, I had Alan open the glove compartment to see if I could possibly see something of him and grab a bit of his essence once again.

After all it was Father's Day, and it had not been necessary to purchase him a card or present...I missed him.

 My mother was a servant. By this I mean she served others well. Her role was to assist my father and she absolutely loved serving her children and grandchildren. Idleness is difficult for her these days, yet she is very limited in what she can do. But I know in her mind she performs tasks over and over. I can ask her what she has been doing and she reports how she has made her bed, or cooked breakfast and straightened up.

When she comes to my house I look for things for her to do, simple tasks. One day I even gave her a  paring knife and some cherry tomatoes to cut in half for the tossed salad, Claire was by her side making the salad. We watched as Mother began popping the tomatoes in her mouth. Redirecting her to the task of what needed to be done was not hard.

When she came to the house to celebrate Charlotte's birthday last week, I gave her the task of putting the candles on the cake. It made her feel useful, a need she retains for being in service to others because some things truly never change.