I went for a quiet walk the other day to relax and sort through my thoughts, like the stacks of messages and notes on my desk. While gazing at the clear sky and breathing in the cool air, it dawned on me that it’s been almost five years since my dad passed away. Honestly, it seems like yesterday.
I realize that many people grew up without a father or a mother, and I’m very sympathetic about that. Thank God, there are great stepdads and stepmoms who have stepped into difficult situations and have been much-needed towers of strength and stability in the life of a child.
We realize that everyone who manages to enjoy a normal life expectancy will eventually outlive their parents. This means that most of us will be required to go through the heartbreak of saying goodbye to those who were always the center of our universe. Whether you have already walked through this valley or if this event has not yet happened, we will most likely be left to continue in our winter years without our mom and dad.
When my wife, Cheryl, and I were married, our parents were in their early 40s, and everyone seemed so young and filled with dreams and expectations. We were in shock when her dad passed away four years later from cancer at age 48. A tomboy in her childhood, with no brothers, she remembers crawling under cars and watching him work on them. She did not have a clue what he was doing but just enjoyed spending quality time alone with him. Working on an old car was probably aggravating to him, but to her, it was exciting. She was like a nurse trying to figure out what type of wrench to hand him next or, more than likely, what size hammer he needed.
Soon after we married, we rented a little house in town. On Saturday mornings after I left for work, her dad would stop by with doughnuts, and they would have some coffee and talk. Through the years, I’ve listened to her mention about how he was such an important part of her security and how she wishes their time together had been longer.