I CRIED IN GRATITUDE last weekend.
Once for my son.
Once for my daughter.
I couldn’t help it.
It wasn’t blubbery, though I’ve done that before.
It was just a pair of watery eyeballs, dripping a bit.
My daughter doesn’t know it, but the tears came when I had to say goodbye to our church worship leader on Sunday. A couple of years ago, he auditioned my daughter for the church worship band. He said he liked how she sang. So he included her on the rotation among the other musicians who helped him each Sunday.
Until then, it had been years since I had been able to hear my daughter sing. When she was growing up, I used to sit on the stairs out of her sight and listen to her play the piano and sing in our living room.
She has her own living room now. And a husband. And a baby boy on the way.
The worship leader let me hear my daughter again. And he let others hear her, too.
At the end of Sunday’s worship service, I stood in line to say goodbye. I hugged the young man who’s growing a full beard in the hopes that it will help the Kansas City Royals win a World Series.
I choked out, “Thanks for giving voice to my daughter.” And I kissed him on the cheek.
That would thoroughly embarrass my daughter.
But that’s one of my jobs as a dad.
So here’s a link to her singing, accompanied by that worship leader: Winter Snow.
Son in the eyes
On Friday my eyes filled because of my son.
We were meeting with my editor half a continent away. I took my son because he’s my marketing guy. We were scheduled to meet last month. But the editor’s son and dad both died in the crash of a small plane shortly after takeoff.
We rescheduled the meeting for this past week.
As the meeting approached, I wondered what I could possibly say to the editor as I stood before him with my son at my side…knowing that his son was gone.
I never could figure out what to say. The thought of the scene always melted me.
Face to face with the editor on Friday, I introduced my son and we spoke of his son.
At visit’s end, the editor told me his boy would have enjoyed meeting my boy. Both young men have excelled in marketing.
There are plenty of times in our life when we parents don’t think about our kids who are grown and gone, living lives of their own.
Then there are times when we can’t stop thinking about them, and thanking God for them.
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