Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Hey Dad...


Dad and I, Kodiak, Alaska, Dawn of Time


I saw my father this morning.  It's not the first time, though today was beyond a general similarity of features and into the realm of Holy Crap! It's Dad!  

Waiting at an intersection for the lights to change.  The folks to my right got the turn arrow, and Dad gave me a big smile as he drove past.  I was stunned.  This man was an exact mirage of my father, though in his healthy years, before he got sick, before his illness sucked him dry month after month; an image of my father before the weight of his fading health relentlessly pressed him down into the bent, weak shape of an old, old man.

The sound of a horn blast jarred me out of the startling moment and as I turned the corner toward the park, I could feel the tears pricking, the lump in my throat thickening.  But then I flashed on that face, my Dad's smile worn by a stranger, and I couldn't stop my grin.

What an amazing thing it was, to see my father, looking so fit, so healthy.  And that killer smile...no wonder he was a heartbreaker back in the day.  How strange life is, with these inexplicable moments that stun, amaze, and remind us that those we love are never truly gone, not so long as we remember.

It was really good to see you again, Pops.

4 comments:

  1. What a beautiful retrospective...so heartwarming :)

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    1. Thanks. It was a strange, yet wonderful moment...

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  2. I once saw a doppelganger of my grandmother when I still lived down below. It was a year and a half after she died, but it was her, down to red power suit and straw sun hat. All I could do was just stare after her in muted shock. I've yet to see one of my mother, but I'm kind of grateful for that, thinking the shock and awe might drop me to my knees, and that'd run counter to my proclamations of bending my knee to no one.

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  3. Okay, that last bit made me laugh out loud.

    There's always been that nebulous rumor that we all have a twin somewhere out in the world. Many a time I've been mistaken for someone else, even to the point of arguing that "no, I am not her!"

    The man I saw was my father down to the hairline. It was truly bizarre, and kinda scary, though also gave me a tiny instant in time to clearly remember him.

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