I am from the east, an east coast girl living on the west coast. I was born and raised in southern New Hampshire. My parents are New Englanders, strong, independent, self reliant. My mom is beautiful. Someday I will let my hair be silver and long and curl at the ends just like her. She has a lovely singing voice, babies and children melt into her lap.
My Dad has a beard, it is gray now and long. His eyes are brown like mine. He rides all over New England on his motorcycle with his biker dude friends. Other than that he doesn’t really travel. He has softened with time. They have been married for almost fifty years. They’ve lived in the same house for forty five years or so and raised fifteen children together.
My mom comes to spend time with us often. Almost every time we have a new baby she has come. In her quiet, gentle way to love us, with pancakes every morning, in all sorts of wonderful shapes for the kids. With long walks and many, many stories read aloud. My kids take turns sleeping with her while she’s here. They take turns sitting beside her at the table. They love their Grannie.
My dad on the other hand had never been here at my house so it was with eager anticipation that we waited for him this winter. Grandpa was coming with Grannie this time! I was just as excited as the kids, or even more so. I felt so honored to have them for guests. My sweet parents, grown old.
My relationship with my dad has not always been easy. When I was young it seemed like we didn’t understand each other at all. He just did not get me and I just did not get him! We talk about it now and laugh, but still there it is.
One day while he was here he pulled me and one of my sisters close. He told us,”You know, Job and I have a lot in common and it isn’t in patience. It says that Job had the fairest daughters in all the land.” He must have seen how it pleased me because several times while he was here he told me that. Sometimes he would just wink and say, “I’ve got a lot in common with Job.” And I would smile and think, yes, and I know that beauty is only in the eye of the beholder.
I have been thinking about how even though I am in my thirties and a parent myself the approval of my father still means so much to me. I am so glad that my dad thinks I am beautiful! I know I’ve seen at certain times how our daughters seem to glow with happiness when their dad tells them how beautiful they are to him.
I love that in the book of Isaiah it says that God will “restore the years that the locust have eaten” and “that He is a repairer of the breach and one who lays new foundations”. It is never too late with the Lord. My husband brought my dad to the airport when the morning came for him to fly back home and on the way there my precious blue eyes thanked my dad for affirming me like that. My dad started to cry and blue eyes cried too. These two men who have impacted my life like no one else ever could, bond together by love for the Lord and for me………Thank you for these “words fitly spoken.” Proverbs 25:11
thegypsyhousewife 