This is a continuation, read the first
here
Then Jane ran off to dance with her boyfriend. I stood there in silence. A few minutes later, my friend Paul joined me. "He's sure having a lot of fun" he said
"who is having a lot of fun?" I asked
"Your father. He's having a ball"
"Yeah. i guess" I didn't know what else to say.
"You know, he's always been there," Paul said. "I remember when you and i were on the soccer team. He tried out as coach, but he couldn't run up and down the field, remember? so they picked Jackie's father. But your dad still showed up for every game. He was the team's biggest fan. I think he's the reason we won so many games. Without him, it would just have been Jackie's father yelling at us. Your father made it fun. I wish my father had come to atleast one of our games. He was always too busy"
I was once again speechless.
My boyfriend came back with two glasses of punch and handed me one.
"What do you think of my father?" i asked out of the blue.
Terry looked surprised. "I like him. i always have"
"Then why did you call him names when we were kids?"
"I don't know. Because he was different, and i was a dumb kid"
"When did you stop calling him names?" I asked, searching my own memory.
Terry didn't even need to think "The day he sat down with me by the pool and hugged me while i cried about my mother and fathers divorce. No one else would let me talk about it. I was hurting, and he could feel it. He cried with me that day. I thought you knew"
I looked at Terry, a tear rolled down my cheek as long-forgotten memories cascaded into my consciousness. When i was three, another dog killed my puppy, and my father was there to hold me and teach me what happens when our pets die. When i was five, my father took me to my first day of school. I was so scared, so was he. We cried that first day the next day he became a teacher's helper.
When i was eight, i just couldn't do math. Father sat down with me every night and we worked until math became easy for me. When i was ten, my father bought me a brand new bike, When it was stolen because i didn't lock it up, my father gave me jobs around the house so i could earn enough money for another one.
When I was thirteen and my first love broke up with me, my father was there to yell at, blame, and to cry with. When i was fifteen and got to be in the honor society, my father was there to see me get the accolade. Now, when i was seventeen, he put up with me no matter how nasty i became or how high my hormones raged.
As I looked at my father dancing enthusiastically with my friends, a big toothy grin on his face, i suddenly saw him differently. The handicaps weren't his-they were mine! I had spent much of my life hating the man who loved me. I hated the exterior and ignored the interior that contained his God given heart. i felt ashamed.
I asked Terry to take me home, too overcome with feelings to remain.
On graduation day, i stood behind the podium as the valedictorian of my class. As i looked over the audience, my gaze rested on my father in the front row. He sat in his only specially made suit, holding my mother's hand and smiling. I was overcome with emotion as i began my speech
"Today i stand here as an honor student, able to graduate with 4.0 average, I didn't do it alone. God was there, and i had friends and teachers, and counselors who helped. If i were to thank just them, i would leave out the most important person in my life: my father"
i saw the look of complete shock cover my father's face. i motioned for him yo join me on stage. He made his way slowly, awkwardly, and deliberatly. He had to drag his left foot up the stairs as he used his deformed right arm to balance his gait. As he stood next to me at the podium, i took his small, crippled hands in mine and held it tight.
"Sometimes we only see the silhouette of the people around us" I said "For years I was as shallow as the silhouette i saw. I saw my father as someone to make fun of, someone to blame, and someone to be ashamed of. He wasn't perfect, like the fathers my friends had. three weeks ago, i found out while i was envying my friend's fathers, my friends were envying mine. that made me look at who i was and what i had become"
Then i turned to face my father
"Father, i owe you a big apology. i based my love for you on what i saw and not what i felt. i forgot to look at the one part of you that meant the most, the big, big heart God gave you. As i move out of high school and into life, i want you to know i could not have had a better father. You are always there for me no matter how badly i hurt you, you still showed up. Thank you!"
I took off my mortarboard and placed it on his head. "You are the reason i am standing here, you deserve this honor, not me"
And the audience applauded and cried with up, i felt God's light shinning upon me as i embraced my father more warmly than i ever had before, tears unashamedly falling down both our faces.
For the first time, i saw my father through God'd eyes, and i felt honored to be seen with him.
Culled from
Journeys of Love 30 true stories
