I fell on my knees and cried like a baby last night when I got home. I wasn't going to blog about this simply because I didn't think I could convey in words the emotions that coursed through me by one simple act of kindness. It wasn't a big thing but it brought home to me how truly blessed I am and have always been.
I have a black leather jacket that has been taking up residence on a wooden rocking chair that I have in my computer room. This chair is what I drop everything on when I get home and it's the chair that I've rocked my every things (Brandi and Matthew). I know now that the jacket quietly sat there to bring home to me something I've always known but never completely acknowledged.
When I got home yesterday from the gym, I did what I normally do, I dropped everything on the chair, stripped on my way to the bedroom, went to my closet to put my shoes away and that's when I saw it. My leather jacket. Hanging haphazardly on the hangar. I fell to my knees crying like a baby.
My dad, who lives in Texas had come to visit Sunday night and he left yesterday morning after I went to work. Obviously he saw the jacket on the chair and wanted to somehow help me out by hanging it. That may not seem to be much of a big deal these days but in my dad's day it was unheard of. That simple kindness brought home to me that my dad loves me and how many huge things he has done for me, but it took this small act to bring it home. He has always been there for me in the good times, the bad, the sad and the happy. This man, my dad, listened to many heartaches that I've endured and has tried to console me. He would never dream that his daughter does wrong and if he does, it never leaves his dream.
My dad is 76 years old and in his old age he loves to talk, gossip, chitchat, etc. Something he has never had a desire to do before but I guess he is lonely. I promise next time he goes on a marathon talkathon, I will remember my leather jacket hanging haphazardly in my closet, and pray to have all the patience in the world with him.
As I pick myself up off my knees and wipe the tears from my eyes, I walk into the bathroom and notice the toilet seat up and I laugh and forgive him this small discretion. In his day, his mother couldn't teach him to put the toilet seat down because he grew up in the age of outhouses and corncobs.
I shake my head, raise my foot, and put the toilet seat down.
