Father’s Day in Snatches

This is the tale of a father of 10 who spent a year without his children.

He only saw them for a few days each month.

He made the most of each moment he had with them when he came home.

He never wanted to leave them. The job was not secure. It was based on 3-month contracts each quarter for a year. We could not afford to move again so quickly after moving from Illinois to Pennsylvania in December. So we held out here while he worked in South Carolina. He missed his family terribly. We missed him terribly.

We went to visit him in South Carolina for 2 weeks in July.

He was able to buy us a new van with the money from his job in South Carolina.

But he missed being with them for a whole year of their lives.

He finally found another job that signed him for a 6-month contract – in Texas. So we are all packing and moving. We’ve saved up enough to make another BIG move. And we’re going with him this time, because none of us want to spend any more time apart.

He came home for a week before his new job would start in Texas. He made sure he was there for Morgan’s recital. He wouldn’t have missed it for the world. Then the following Saturday he had to drive to Texas – without us.

Now he’s in Texas for Father’s Day. And he is alone. Without his children. He had few days with his children throughout the year. I think each of those days was Father’s Day for him. Better than this day called Father’s Day. But soon we will all be together again. And every day will be Father’s Day. And we will rejoice and be glad. And never take our togetherness for granted again.

Happy Father’s Day, Gary. Those snatches were wonderful, but we can’t wait until our days are filled with your presence in our lives again.