Daddy's Presence

I went over to my Mom's today to take some pictures of a large branch she lost as a result of our spring blizzard this week. This was a very wet heavy snow and it got caught up on the blossoms of the Purple Leaf Plum trees that my Daddy loved and planted prodigiously in his yard. If quantity counts Purple Leaf Plums were one of my Daddy's favorite trees, their beautiful burgundy colored leaves and pink blossoms are a sight I look forward to all winter. They signify springs arrival in my heart and the joy my Daddy had that he could return to his landscaping profession and begin again the hard work of earning a living for his wife and eleven children. The cold, hard, barren, winter was over and though there would be mud, sore muscles and long days, planting and growing had returned with the flocks of birds that flitted about in his blossoming trees.

My boys bounced happily on the large branch and I caught some amazing pictures of spring and my feelings for my Daddy.



I believe it's in the movie, Always, that one of the characters who has died is told, "The only regrets we have on the other side is the love we left unsaid." Perhaps my Daddy left a lot of love unsaid or perhaps I felt I could only hear it while I still had him here with me. He was with me this afternoon, watching my youngest boys jump and shout with the joy of youth, he was there, marveling at the tangle of branches and the fearless finches. We breathed in the hope of new growth and the sorrow of decay.


Thanks Daddy, for speaking love to my wintering heart, thanks for the beauty of an angel wing always close, warm in winter, promising that spring is near.