Sunday, June 15, 2014

My Dad

My Dad
Who can build a warm fire to heat the house he built for his family.
Who flew big airplanes and served his country.
Who carried mail down dusty, muddy, bumpy roads on a rural mail route.
Who drove a tractor and rode horses even when they weren't quite broke yet and branded cattle and unstuck vehicles and cut the big trees when they fell during the Louisiana storms.
Who came home from the mail route to read a book about something that needed fixing and then went to fix that thing.


My Dad
Who has always worn the white v-neck t-shirts that I often wore as nightgowns when I was very small.
Who’s standard wardrobe over the v-neck has almost always been a button down shirt (usually plaid, short sleeves for summer & long for winter), ironed jeans, white socks and cowboy boots. Oh & a white, ironed hanky. I used to have to help wash (gross) & iron those hankies. Proof that even *yuck* can be a good memory:)

My Dad
Who waited patiently for a long time for the right woman and has remained lovingly faithful to her ever since he found her.
Who has always had grey/white hair (as far back as I remember) and laughed when people asked about his grand children and said “Yes, they sure are grand!”

My Dad
Who read Nancy Drew books to me before I could read them to myself, and read missionary biographies to all of us and most of all, the Bible.
Who led us to church for every service and event that happened there.
Who helped me learn my verses & practice for Bible Drill.
Who helped me think through a dilemma when I professed to follow Christ as a tiny person- “Dad, I’m a Christian now, but I wanted to be a pilot like you. What do I do?” “You can do both” he said.
Who, when I dreamed of adopting a wild mustang, going to Papua New Guinea, attending Bible School in England and going to college- made my dreams realities.
Because of my dad, I didn't know there was anything I couldn't do.

My Dad
Born long enough ago to have seen a lot of changes in the world and have some neat stories about growing up.
Who likes to take vitamins and eat ice cream and have honey in his coffee.
Who took us camping and to arrowhead meals to buy green spaghetti because it was so much better for us (& you could hardly tell it was green in the candlelight).
Who pretended the hot dog was a cigar and made us laugh while the rain flooded our campground.
Who took every vacation mishap in stride so even the memories of being stuck on a hot roadside while a tire was being changed or searching Brussels for accommodations are good ones.

My Dad
Champion listener of the world
Quiet
Determined
Patient
Never stops learning & doesn’t see age as a reason to not try something new.

My Dad
Who picked me up on Wednesdays during his mail route and finished it out with me squeezed in beside the trays and then drove me to the Centenary Gold Dome for gymnastic lessons. Another dream come true.
Who drove me to softball practice and games and threw the ball with me at home and only said encouraging words during the games and that one time surprised me by taking me to see Aristocats at the dollar theatre before one of those games.

My Dad
Who took me to the laundry mat in town (everything was at least 30 minutes away in my growing up days. Mostly still true now.) that Christmas eve the power was out and I needed to get ready for a ski & road trip with my future husband and in-laws.
Who said yes when Josh asked to marry me and walked me down the isle much faster than we were supposed to walk so I could marry the man who would make me happy for the next 14 years (and counting).
Who held each new grandchild and said something nice about each one in his typical calm, encouraging way.

My Dad
Who never encouraged me to be anything other than exactly what God intended me to be. Who has been proud of each accomplishment, but loved me before I ever accomplished anything. And would love me if I never accomplished a thing.
Who has lived his life as best he can according to God’s Word. And taught me by that example to do the same with mine.

This could go on for a while so I’ll just stop and say

I love you Dad.
Happy Father’s Day

Your Second Daughter,

Mary Pellie 

1 comment:

  1. You just touch my heart, When a father gives to his son, both laugh; when a son gives to his father, both cry.

    ReplyDelete

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