Happy Father's Day

                                                                   

Thanksgiving, Christmas, Mother's Day and Father's Day. Those are the four days of the year when, here in Sun City, the community becomes a beehive of young families visiting. 

On those days you are most likely to see grandkids out and about; biking, riding scooters down sidewalks, splashing in backyard pools, and sons and daughters home to visit the "old folks."

So this morning, at 5:00 AM, I went out for a short walk...the only time of day when the intense heat makes a walk even possible.

As I turned the corner on Snead, and began walking north, I saw a man pushing his father in a wheel chair, the two out for an early morning stroll on Father's Day.

I soon overtook the two. As I passed by, the younger man was telling his Dad about something that happened to him at work.

As I continued on my walk I couldn't help but think how the dimension of "time" has changed the roles the two men have played. Once, decades ago, the one in the wheel chair had stood behind a five year old's first bike, hung on to the back of a banana seat and guided the little guy as he pedaled down the street. At some point the father had let go of the bike, and stood in pride at his young son took that first handle bar wobbling ride on his own.

And, some years later, the now wheel chair bound father must have sat in the passenger seat as the son sat behind the steering wheel and clumsily goosed the gas pedal as the two set off for that first driving lesson. 

And then, far sooner than he would have liked, the father would stand in the driveway and sadly wave goodbye as his son set off for college, or to war....his reluctance to let him go as profound as that long ago day when he first let go of the bike seat.

So, this morning, on Father's Day, that "little boy" has come back home. It is he who now stands behind his dad...lovingly "paying back" ...and as reluctant to "let go" as his dad was on that long ago first bike ride.

Happy Father's Day.