Recently, we had to clean up my dad's video game collection. Hundreds of games. Games we bought with him. Games we promised to play with him. Games he wanted to play while he retired.
Each one feels like a kick in the gut. There is no way any one person could play all those games in any life time, forget one whose life was cut short like his. (mind you, he did play a lot of them!)
My dad always lived with the motto, "I'll do it next month." His months ran out and it was still close to his last words.
And so, it leaves us struggling with this-- It's not fair he never got to do these things he dreamed of doing.
Yet... he was happy putting these things off to sit and play a game with us. Always, he was happy to come visit us. Always happy.
So... this means...
Anything that can be put off until next month isn't important enough to this moment, which means something else is more important. Take a look around, what could possibly be more important?
I like the idea of putting off the things that can wait until tomorrow so I can be happy today curled up on the couch, playing a game with my family.
It's a nice lesson.
I miss my dad terribly but I have a lot of wonderful and caring father figures still in my life to play games with and he taught me how important they are to me.
Happy Father's Day
to all the wonderful dads in my life,
thank you for putting off things to spend time with us.
What memory do you have of your father that you feel like sharing today?
Each one feels like a kick in the gut. There is no way any one person could play all those games in any life time, forget one whose life was cut short like his. (mind you, he did play a lot of them!)
My dad always lived with the motto, "I'll do it next month." His months ran out and it was still close to his last words.And so, it leaves us struggling with this-- It's not fair he never got to do these things he dreamed of doing.
Yet... he was happy putting these things off to sit and play a game with us. Always, he was happy to come visit us. Always happy.
So... this means...
Anything that can be put off until next month isn't important enough to this moment, which means something else is more important. Take a look around, what could possibly be more important?
I like the idea of putting off the things that can wait until tomorrow so I can be happy today curled up on the couch, playing a game with my family.
It's a nice lesson. I miss my dad terribly but I have a lot of wonderful and caring father figures still in my life to play games with and he taught me how important they are to me.
Happy Father's Day
to all the wonderful dads in my life,
thank you for putting off things to spend time with us.
What memory do you have of your father that you feel like sharing today?
5 comments:
I'm sure he was happy and glad that he put off playing all those video games in order to spend more time with you and your sister and mother, and any other siblings you might have. He knew what was most important in life.
What beautiful photographs...and lovely memories. The days of celebration and acknowledgement are always the hardest to face when we've lost someone. Your dad looks lovely, and very happy. He'd want you to remember and smile, Tanya xx
My father, David, was a big movie lover. He could watch a movie more than once and he was glad whenever he had the chance to use some headline or punchline from a favorite movie.
For example, when asked 'what's new' he would say 'nothing new on the west front general' taken from a well-known russian war movie.
I find myself sometimes, using the same phrase, and it makes me feel happy as it reminds me of my Dad.
That's a great point. If it's so easy to put something off, it's probably not that important anyway. Or, maybe it's just laziness. (Not your dad, me. :)
One thing i remember with my dad was when I was learning to water ski. And over and over helping til I got it. And it took many times. That had to take patience.
But being a parent now, I also get how exciting it is to see your kids master something hard.
What a nice insight to come out of that twinge of regret. I'm sure that's true: if something can be put off, it isn't as important as what you choose instead. I'm sure he was happy in his choices.
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