Father's day 2008

It was good. It was love.

My father will be 89 this year. As my brother said this year "I don' t know how many more father's days we will have with him". We mutually wanted to make it special. My father is a simple man who enjoyes simple things. Jo had the right idea. They had recently purchased some good home-grown tomatoes. Jim and Jo brought the fixings to have bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwiches.

We gathered at the grandparents' apartment in Galveston on Sunday afternoon. I knew this was going to be good when I saw my father's reaction as Anne walked in the door first and he saw her. He lit up and was smiling. He seems like he rarely smiles these days. He returned her hug with appreciation and he hugged me with joy as well.

My mother came in the room and was just glowing.

Minutes after we arrived, Jim, Jo and Amanda walked in the door. ...more hugs and smiles.

We gathered in little conversation groups, the women on one side of the room and the guys on the other. We talked about Lisa's pregnancy. We talked about my new job opportunity. We talked about the woodpecker in Jim's backyard.

The U.S. Open golf tournament was on TV. The sound was muted and the closed caption narration scrolled across the screen. We could follow the tournament without the noise and still carry on conversations. The guys groaned when Tiger Woods hit a ball into the tree and it dropped straight down into the grass.

After a while, it was dinner time and Jo began putting things together for the sandwiches. Amanda sat on the couch next to Jim. She put her head on his shoulder and looked at me and smiled. "This is the only day of the year you'll see this", she said. "Most of the time, I'm like a dog and snap at him."

Oh, dinner was just wonderful. You would think this was the gourmet delight of kings. We all expressed our appreciation and delight in the freshly made sandwiches. Afterward, we had a piece of chocolate cheesecake. It was all good.

Eventually it was time to leave. We had lots of hugs and affection expressed. My father was smiling. My mother was smiling. We had honored my father in the way that he most appreciated. It was a good day.

Later that evening, Greg called and sang happy father's day to me. Then Lisa called and wished me a happy father's day.

It doesn't get any better than this.