PITTSBURGH (100.1 FM and AM 1020 KDKA) I don’t know what its like in your home, but for my family, Mother’s Day was always a bigger deal.
We celebrated my dad for sure. He was and is a GREAT Dad, but it usually means little more than a special dinner and a gift (not a tie, but close).
On Mother’s Day, we always showered my mother with gifts, we had brunch and dinner sometimes, and it was KNOWN it was her day.
Dad’s bring so much to our lives, I hope you will celebrate yours if you can. If not, take a moment to remember all the special lessons you learned from your father.
My father taught me patience. My father taught me to always look for the good in people. He taught me how to swim and how to drive. Oh yea, and parallel park. He taught me that things always get better, even if it’s not when you want it to, or expect it to.
My father is 95. His memory isn’t what it used to be. In fact, I’ve had to use that “patience” that he taught me when I talk to him more and more because I hear the same stories over and over. I used to be annoyed, but I realize now one day, he won’t tell me his Army stories, and I will miss them.
My father, who was born in Charleston, SC loves seafood and crab. His favorite meal now is oatmeal, because it’s easy to digest. When I go out now he wants to know when I will be coming home. Not so much because he worries about me, but because he doesn’t like being alone.
When my mother became bedridden years before her death, I watched my father take care of her. Lovingly feeding her, changing her bed. I watched as he explained to the visiting nurses what a privilege it was to care for the woman he had loved for more than 50 years. I watched him mourn the loss of his wife, my mother and then a few years later mourn the loss of my sister, his oldest daughter. Always a pillar of strength. Always a man of strong faith. Always a father, the patriarch who held our family together.
Now his walk is a lot less steady. The man who used to hold onto my every word, sort of listens when I tell him a story, but he’s not as interested. He falls asleep midway thru the movie I think he’s going to love and even though I write everything on his “dry erase” board, I have to remind him of the day, date and month.
So what will that mean for this Sunday?
It means we’ll eat Oatmeal, if that’s what he wants.
It means, I will listen to old stories and laugh at them as if hearing them for the first time.
It means I will hold his arm, to help him steady up as we hopefully get some fresh air outside.
It won’t be the big deal we used to make of Mother’s Day for my mom, but it will be a big deal for me and for him.
In addition to swimming and driving and how to be patient, my father taught me about unconditional love.
That is the gift I plan to share with him this Father’s day and it may be just the greatest gift of all.
Happy Father’s Day.