Today was absolutely terrific! I returned to church choir today after a several month hiatus and it was lovely to be back "home". This was one of our choir intensive Sundays, so we sang a LOT. I normally only sing first service but today I stayed for both. Roger worked on recording during the first service so Aaron was on his own in the pews. Always a little dodgy but he did fine. :>)
After church we went to our friends' home to celebrate Father's Day with them. What a nice afternoon! The kids played together with a minimum of yelling (except the joyous kind...) and we ate, talked, and played games. The competition was HOT! :>)
The kids came up with a show they planned (I use the term loosely) for us. There's nothing quite like a show created and performed by a group of 4 - 8 year-olds who are close as cousins. They boss each other around and get mad at each other but they love each other just the same. We are truly blessed in our friends! We ended up enjoying each other's company enough that we thought we'd better feed the kids again when we realized it was 7pm. : > O Dinner? Leftovers it is!!! :>)
We got home and cut the cake we made for Roger yesterday. We had our little family celebration of Roger and his "Daddyhood" then sent Aaron off for a much needed shower. I petted Pixley and put him to bed and now there's nothing to do but get my own shower and ponder the day a bit.
Father's Day is a wonderful time for us to get to celebrate Roger and his role in our lives but I always miss MY Daddy more that usual today. He's been gone for nearly 16 years now but that's SO hard to believe. My dad's present every day when I make decisions about what I should do. He's there when I consider how to raise Aaron. He's there when I sing. He's there when I make ethical decisions. He's there when goofy stuff happens and when I can't spit my words out in the right order. He's there when I write. He's there when I tell Aaron about his grandpa because I CAN'T let Aaron not know who his grandpa was.
My dad was a man who loved the written and spoken word; who was happy to play "Stump the Parents" (Pick a word from the dictionary and see if your parents know what it means) with us after dinner.
He was a man who would tell us stories in Pig Latin and would pound out rhythms on the kitchen table to see who could, "Name that Tune," the most quickly.
He was a man who, when a boy, would go out to the horse pasture to gather flowers for his mom.
He was a man who was a teacher. I once had a former student of his tell me, "He was the best teacher I ever had! He failed me, but he REALLY tried to teach me. He cared."
He was a man who loved God and loved his religion enough to question it.
He was a man who worked hard and loved to do so. He took pleasure in pruning his trees.
He was a man with a absolutely TERRIBLE sense of spacial relations! :>)
He was a man who loved the arts of Man an gloried in the arts of Nature.
He loved his family and they loved him.
He ADORED a good dirty joke!
There are so many things I want to teach Aaron about his grandpa but I think the most important one is, he was just a Good Man. There are people our world will remember as being "great". Aaron may have the potential to be "great " someday but my wish for him is to be like his daddy, Roger, and like his grandpa, Don, and just be a Good Man.
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