Falling Far From The Family Tree

So I was strolling down the beach, a place that I love above most others, and the sun was hot, the waves soothing the breeze just right to make it all comfortable. I waved at friends who had waved at me. I strode with happiness, confidence, a smile on my face, and one eye gazing at the ocean. It was perfect!

Then my Dad slapped me on the head and said, “I’ve been here boy!”

My Dad died last June. Julie and I were here and he respected that so much that he waited on us to get back so that we could say proper good-byes and that we loved each other and that he needed a bit of help deciding that it was the right time to go.

There is this photograph of my Dad and my Mom that someone has blown up and Mom has had framed and it was sitting out on family Christmas celebration. It shows my Dad strolling down a beach in Tortolla. He is strolling in happiness, with confidence, has a smile on his face, and one of his eyes is gazing towards the ocean. My Mom is hamming it up for the camera.

Dad is brown and tanned but he was always brown and tan. The man could spend two seconds in the sun and he bronzed for the next two years. He loved the ocean, the smell of the marsh, and his friends.

Mom is all legs as my niece described it and she was. She is wearing a floppy hat and a one piece that shows off three miles of legs and a campy smile for whoever was taking the picture.

It is a photograph that perfectly captures how they were as a couple and as people. They went through a lot, as all of us do, but did it clinging to one another for all time out of fear that there might be nothing else to cling on to. That is what love is in the end I think. We find someone to cling on to and we do it with everything in us. It can be a spouse, or a collection of friends, and a significant other or some combination of these, but there is something inside of us that tells us to hold onto this no matter what it costs.

So I spoke the words out loud, because Dad had spoken so clearly to me. “Thanks Dad.”

Now lets be honest, I am the one who fell the furthest from the family tree. Dad and Mom struggled for years to explain to their friends why I do what I do or do things the way that I do them. My brother has probably given up on praying for me. My sister shrugs her shoulders and tells me that she loves me anyway.

But let me tell you something. I wouldn’t trade that tree for anything in the world.

Oh! And Mom, happy birthday!!!