12 Comments

Second of all, I haven’t begun to process the depths you have touched, so…I guess I’ll go out back and pick up sticks!

Expand full comment

Yes! I couldn't believe how much I enjoyed it today! I started out, dreading the process, and then began to thrill in the breeze that would flow through my hair, the birds singing and just feeling a lightness in my heart.

Expand full comment

Dreading the process and then thrilling in the breeze hmmmm

Expand full comment

First of all, excellent idea (substituting pick up sticks for presidential debates)! Second of all,

Expand full comment

Oh Mary, so poignant, so beautifully written. Awesome post.

Expand full comment

Thank you, Rebecca. He and I had a contentious relationship when I was a teenager and it really wasn't until I had a child of my own, that he and I began to talk.

Expand full comment

What a wonderful relationship you had with your dad. And what a wonderful man it sounds like he was.

Expand full comment

Wendy, thank you. I am fortunate that in the last 20+ years (after I had my own child), he and I began to really get along. Prior to that, he just seemed like rules, rules, rules.

Expand full comment

Haha my mom didn't bother to be nice and make a song about it. 💓

Expand full comment

Sigh...everyone should be nice (my personal opinion). "5. 6, Pick Up Sticks."

Expand full comment

Free!

Expand full comment

I loved reading your words, "I picked up sticks at my own house today, and pictured my dad, looking over me approvingly, probably smiling. I must say, that after a few hours of this manual labor, I felt better than I have in weeks and months." You have had such tremendous loss in such a short period of time and it made me smile to think you felt a time of feeling better than you have in months. Grief is a personal process and a privacy to be respected by others. I love that you asked the Dad question about what to do if you're bored. Brent and I often talk about this as both of our dads would say to us, "If you're bored, go read a book," Our generation's parents did not tolerate our lanuage, "I'm bored." Sending you a big hug, Mary!

Expand full comment