We can't have our family and close friends with us forever. But we can make wonderful memories with them. Rehashing those precious memories is, in a way, like living them over and over again. I am very grateful to God for the gift of family, and the incredible privilege to make memories with them. It also gives me joy to be able to share some of them. In my Dad's later years I saw Jesus touch him miraculously amid a
challenging time in his life. He mellowed tremendously after God touched him. He
changed instantly and exuded a peace that can only be described as “heavenly”.
And that’s the way he remained until the day he went to be with Jesus. Thank God, that’s the way I remember him.
Dad had a great sense of humor. He was also an
exceptionally talented artist. He drew some of the funniest caricatures of us
kids over the years. And of course, they were always exaggerated
to the extreme!
Here’s an example: As a child, I loved sweets; any kind of
sweets. Our family owned and ran a pharmacy in Bay Springs, MS. Our store had a
vast, extensive candy case! One of the blessings of being a family member was
that occasionally my parents and Grandparents would allow me to raid
the candy case, with limitations, of course. What a joy! One time Dad drew a caricature of me
literally sucking all the candy out of the candy case…from several feet away!
It was truly hilarious! My two sisters, Katherine, and Cindy; my brother, Van,
and myself, all inherited a vast portion of his sense of humor.
I will never forget the times
when he was cutting up with us kids! It was usually when he was off, or we were
away on vacation with the family. Speaking of vacation, one of our family
traditions was that we went to a fish camp near Kiln, Mississippi for a week, at
least twice each Summer. We would go just after school got out in early June,
and go again, just before school started back in late August.
On one particular outing Dad and I were out fishing on the Jourdan River in an old, wooden skiff. That old skiff had a 5-hp motor that you could outrun walking at a slow pace! Anyway, we came upon a huge Gar Fish, dead, floating in the water, and stinking to high
heaven! Dad decided we would play a little trick on the rest of the family
who were back at the cabin. So, he had me hold the dead, stinky Gar Fish up
next to the skiff, leaving it in the water as we rode about a mile on the river
to the cabin.
As we pulled into the little boathouse lagoon, my little sister Cindy
came running out to see what we had caught. Her eyes became as big as saucers when
she saw the big, dead, stinky Gar Fish! She ran to get Mother who
hurried to see the catch. She began to smell the fish even before she could see
it. At once she knew neither of us had caught
the completely inedible fish. Mother ordered us to immediately take the fish as far away as we
could, making sure the tide or the currents wouldn't bring it back again!
Daddy laughed so hard and told me it was worth all the trouble just to prank
them and see their reactions! I miss him tremendously.
One of the greatest blessings of this life is to make memories with family and love ones. Family is a gift from God. My Dad has been in heaven since 2010. But I have the blessing of rehashing those memories over and over.
