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The Letters

Dear Dad,

Yesterday Stan and I drove up to see you.  You didn't know we were there. You were just sleeping away.

We sat beside you for awhile, holding your tiny hands, and whispering that we loved you into your ears. But you just laid there sleeping.

It was time for us to go home, but we had to eat some ice cream together in that little ice cream parlor down the hall that you would go to every evening.

I asked if it would be ok if I stayed with you for just a little while. For some reason I just wanted to sit beside you, alone, for just a little while.

I pulled my chair up beside the bed and took hold of your wrinkled hand. I just sat there, quietly looking into your face.  I began to hum softly to you, and a complete peace came over my mind, my heart, my very being. You just laid there asleep. I just sat there humming softly to myself. It felt so peaceful. It was as if your spirit deep within you was reaching out to mine, and you were giving me your last gift. It was as if you were telling me to let go of things that don't matter. Feelings that just stir me up. It was as if you were showing me what really matters. A quiet and content spirit. I just sat there. I wanted that moment to go on forever. Just you and me. I will never forget our short five or ten minutes together. Never. You gave me a gift that day, beside your bed.

 Just behind you, hanging on the wall was a 8 x 10 picture of you and mom. You stood there side by side. You both were younger then. On your faces was a gentle smile. I knew that this woman was your everything. I knew that love ran deep between you both, even if words were few. Sometimes love doesn't need words. Sometimes love can quietly run deep in the heart.

As I looked at that picture, my heart broke because I had not told you thank you. I had not told you of the greatest gift you both had given me. The greatest gift a girl can ever receive from a man and woman, she called mom and dad. That is the gift of your son who became my husband.

At noon today the phone call came. You had gone to heaven. You are now with the woman who was your everything for over sixty years. Sometimes I think that I waited too long. That I should have told you before now.  But some things have their time. Sometimes life's experiences prepare our hearts to feel, to love, to see the treasure of a persons heart. This afternoon, beside your bed, I found a treasure. So I write that letter of thanks to you and mom, as I put a closure on the beautiful life we shared for forty years as dad and mom, and daughter-in-law.


Dear Mom and Dad,

Sixty four years ago and one month, you brought into this world a tiny little boy. He was made just perfect. A little blond head, tiny little toes and fingers. A perfectly shaped little nose, and beautiful true blue eyes.

You both took him home to your little trailer along the creek, that he shared with his little brother. I can just see you, mother, caring for this little man as he would look at you and smile, then coo.  After awhile he would sit up, crawl and then take his first wobbly steps.

He wasn't very old then you moved to a old farmhouse out in the prairies. There he and his big brother would play among the grasses, and on the old machinery on hot summer days.  They would follow you both around as you fed the pigs, or milked the cows. Sometimes in the early summer morning they would be out in the garden helping you pull the weeds, and sometimes would pull up a bean or a pea plant, but you didn't care. You loved those little boys.

On a cool November day, when those little boys were five and six and their little sister was four, you loaded up your old farm truck and moved to "the ranch" down along the creek. It was here that yet another little fellow came into your life's. Happy days were spent there playing in the creek, learning to ride horses, working together in the hay fields, feeding the cattle, riding the school bus, and growing into manhood. I can just hear that old red screen door slam in the morning as you would go outside to start a busy day.

That is where I first came to see you. I remember that long lane. I remember crossing the cattle guards. I remember riding the horses down the long creek lane. I remember the windmills against the sunset skies. I remember the doves singing along the creek, and the call of the killdeer from the pastureland. I remember sitting down to your big round table, and bowing our heads as grace was said.  I remember holding hands for the first time with my new "friend". I remember his "looks" at me across that big dinner table, full of food of all kinds.

I remember waking up in that upstairs bedroom and hearing mom at work in the kitchen. I would lay there listening to the day waking up, and then all of a sudden you would hear the ringing of a little bell. Dad, you would bring it to the bottom of the stairs and ring it with all your worth. That was the call to breakfast.

I remember the day that my special young man got the call to the army.  I'm sure that your hearts was breaking. I'm sure that your "mother heart" was hurting. I'm sure that you were concerned, but you hid it well.  I remember the morning my sweetheart went away for his physical, and he passed. I remember the long days of waiting to see what it would all mean. I remember the day I came home and saw, the clipping out of the paper, framed setting there on the kitchen table. It told us that the war was over!  I can't imagine the relief that must of brought to you both.

It wasn't long after that day that he became my husband. Thank you for this beautiful man. Thank you for what your influence did in his dear heart. He is a man who loves God, his children, his grandchildren, and me. His heart is huge and he has made my world complete. I am so happy that on that day long ago.... a little boy was born to you. I am so happy that over forty years ago now, that young man became my husband.

I know that there are many other young men just like him, but he was made just for me. I promise that I will love and cherish him until....just like you, death will do us part.  Thank you dear mom and dad.

 Your grateful daughter-in-law






Comments

  1. Oh my ❤️ Is swelled with your loving words dear cousin. I think you are right Stan was definitely made for you and you for him ❤️

    ReplyDelete

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