Posted on 06/07/2004 5:35:34 PM PDT by Howlin
The house I grew up in had large plate-glass windows, which birds frequently crashed into headfirst. My father helped me assemble a bird hospital, consisting of a few shoe boxes, some old rags and tiny dishes for water and food. When I lost my first patient, when the tiny gray creature died in my hands without ever eating any of the Cheerios I'd provided for it, my father patiently explained to me that the bird was free now, flying happily through the blue breezes of heaven, where there are no hazards such as windows. I was locked into his eyes, locked into the story. My father was always more accessible when he was teaching his children through stories.
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Thirty-five years later, I would walk beside him along the beach, after he had already begun slipping into the shadows of Alzheimer's. A dark thief, it steals portions of a person, leaves remnants behind. He looked up at a flock of seagulls soaring overhead and his eyes followed them, shining with something I couldn't decipher, but which I interpreted as longing.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
Between the playing of Hail to the Chief and this article I'm just one big tear.
I too was four decades gone before becoming the prodigal son and making peace with my father.
It's a new type of peace and a new type of love that is hard to describe...so satisfying, and yet, so bittersweet that it was so long in coming.
It is a love that is as aching as that for your first sweetheart, but maybe even more desperate because, instead of a limitless future, you know that in this, there will be an ending.
Patti, thank you for this rememberance....and don't worry darling, you made it home.
What a wonderful tribute to her father.....she calls him a "shy man" and that makes me think his introspective nature (often a trait of shy people) was part of the reason he could be the giant (in ideas and motivations) he was.
I heard the other day that Patti reconciled with her mother and father just a few months before he made the Alzheimers announcement in 1994.
Thanks for sharing this, Howlin. It's been 10 years that she's had a reunion with her parents. Better late than not at all.
Each of President Reagan's children have commented on his zone of privacy. He shared himself unselfishly w/so many, yet reserved a small part for selfhood too. Nancy probably came as close as anyone to sharing that zone.
I think he and Nancy were so close,
that death will not part them.
BTTT
He was never very far from you Patty ... It's just how his generation was. My mother was much the say way, not one for being big on hugging, but I always new she loved me and was never very far when I needed her.
I am happy you could figure it out before it was to late .. and Thank you for sharing him with the rest of the World.
We are all blessed to have had him in our lives
Thanks, Howlin. That is beautiful indeed.
Thanks.......she is very good. Dad would be very proud of her.
Dont miss this article.
We are going to be hearing more from Patti. We may not always agree with her, but I think she will be writing and speaking from the heart. If anyone can communicate with her, tell he her dad wants her to be true to her calling, but I bet she already knows that.
Gob bless you Patti, and all your family.
A daughter grows up and "gets it".
I agree, Howlin. Thanks so much for the ping.
Please FReepmail me if you want on or off my infrequent ‘miscellaneous’ ping list.
I remember visiting my dad in his final months, hoping he would recognize me. When he did it only took a minute or so to zone out. There is no explaining that feeling of being in the picture one minute and gone the next..
WOW! Outstanding! The love that connects us all.
I know the feeling, amigo. I visited my Dad (he's 91) last winter four days in-a-row. He recognized me most times, but then, it was like a light switch being turned-off.
Stay well, pal.............FRegards
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