An Explanation (Part 1)

You may notice from time to time that my posts are sporadic.  There are reasons for this.  Sometimes I just don't know what to say or lack inspiration.  At other times I'm away.  My daddy lives about 5 hours away and I go to visit him each month.  At almost 89, his health is very fragile.  My sister has moved in with him and takes care of his daily needs.  I come each month to give her a break and take care of cleaning, laundry, banking, and various other little chores.

My mother died 11 years ago and daddy has had a difficult time being alone since she has been gone.  This post might wind up being pretty long but I'm doing it as much for therapy as anything else, so please bear with my long-windedness.

My daddy is not an educated man.  He had to drop out of school in the 5th grade when his only brother got married and moved away and he was needed on the farm to help out.  His mother had died when he was 5 and there were 5 sisters at home.  His sisters doted on him and vied for his attention.  Their devotion must be what gave him so much self confidence and pride.

Since he left school so young, he was not able to read beyond the 5th grade level, in fact, it seemed at times that his ability wasn't quite at that level.  He seemed very uncomfortable and guarded in many public settings and I think this was because of his inability to read.  He was very dependent on mama to be his "eyes". Once he had been to a new place with someone who seemed to know the ropes, he was okay but it took a lot of coaxing to get him to try new things.  He preferred going to a cafeteria to eat because he had a hard time navigating the menu.  His interactions with people were pretty much limited to work, family and church and even in those areas he didn't forge close ties with anyone who didn't know of his inability to read well. As a result of this, his world was and is world very small.

Daddy was mechanically inclined and worked on an assembly line at a local plant.  He became a second shift lead man, a job that he was so proud of having and he should have been proud.  It was quite an accomplishment for him.  He enjoyed taking things apart, cleaning and refurbishing them and putting them back together so when a job opening in the "tool crib" came open, he was put in there where he took care of tools and assigned them to people.  He retired from that job after about 32 years with the company.

He was able to enjoy his retirement, working in his woodworking shop and repairing lawn mowers.  Then mama got sick and that exhausted everyone.  We all suffered with mama's slow death.  That in itself is another story but when God finally took her, daddy was left alone and while he could easily cook, clean house and take care of himself he was still alone and no longer had his "eyes" to look out for him.