My Father's Service 22 August 2020
You could say that life is a lot of leavings, departures, waving goodbyes, saying goodbye-regretting that you didn’t say I love you enough times or the last thing you did say to someone was a bit harsh, or hurried.
You could look at a parent and say really all they were doing was preparing you for all the leavings and partings ahead of you. Maybe trying to cushion the pain?
And indeed, that is a parent’s job. To get you out of the nest, to start your life, to get you going, to push you forward holding the back of the bike and then let go giving you that glorious feeling of independence, balance and freedom. And then maybe to pick you up and dust you off when you fell and then put you back on the bike.
And of course, when you’re young you don’t really think about all this, until you are on your own, trying to find your way, handle your broken heart, figure out how to pay your rent.
For me even though we were miles apart in some ways and very close in others, Dad was a constant.
Now he is a reminder of the incredible speed that life travels, its weird acceleration, and the real importances within it. And that love is, as uncomfortable, smothering as it may seem at times coming from a parent, is a steady but wobbly rudder that keeps us going forward.
Thanks, Dad, for loving me, us, all of us and helping us with the game of life.
The last years I always left you with a hug, a kiss and I love you. Maybe I learned that lesson from you.
I love you. Peace.
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