Beautiful June day

My dad playing ladder golf on his 90th birthday.

“Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

It is a gorgeous day here at Mama’s Empty Nest.

I’m sitting outside on my back yard deck in the cool low 70’s temperature of the afternoon.  The sun is shining and warms my face.

When I look up from my laptop, the view that greets me is baby blue sky dotted with the fluffiness of cottony clouds and different hues of green in the trees and expanse of yard behind our house.

Next door is a corn field, newly planted by the farmer, and sprouting stalks already.  I close my eyes and inhale the scent of blooming peonies and cut grass and I think about my father.

It is a beautiful June day and I am blessed.   Not only have I just celebrated our middle daughter’s wedding but I celebrated yet another year of life since my birthday was the day after the nuptials.

I spent those two days surrounded by family and friends making memories that will last a lifetime.  And for this birthday, I received a special gift – a son-in-law.

My father as a young man around 1940.

Today in my book called Opportunity, I whisper to the God I love, the One who sustains me, the Heavenly Father who provides, the Friend who never leaves and is always with me.

I tell Him how grateful I am for this beautiful day, this life He has given me, these treasures of family and friends and I thank Him.

But today is another special day, it is June 7 –  the anniversary of my own earthly father’s birth.  If he were still alive, my dad would be 93 on this day.

As I think of him today, I give thanks that God blessed me with such a fine example of a man to be my daddy.  He was kind, he was loving, he was generous, he was respected by all who knew him.  He was a man of integrity and fine character and he taught me so much.

Even though I miss him still, so much so that I cry, I see his influence all around me.  I see it in the good common sense he taught me that I put into practice; I think of him as I balance our check book, a skill he taught to me at an early age.

He comes to my mind when the fragrance of  freshly cut grass reaches my nose.  And I see him reflected in my son’s face, who I think resembles my dad when he was a young man.

And in my mind’s eye, I see my dad, sitting on the porch, straw hat in hand, resting a bit after mowing the four acres of his homestead and enjoying a beautiful June day just like today.

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