A Father's Love

I took a trip to see my mother recently. Our visits don’t happen as often as I’d like, because they involve a 10-hour roundtrip, not to mention juggling everyone’s schedules and packing (which I detest). And all of this is on my part, because she doesn’t travel.

Still, I’m always glad I went when I get home. I love my mom, and it’s good to spend time with her. But my trips feel very different since my father’s death, nine years ago.

Even though my parent’s house ceased being “home” for me when my children were born, my father made our visits a cause for celebration. For one thing, he planned and cooked special meals for us. Dad was “Master of the Grill,” and I’m not talking about burgers, but big, juicy roasts. His Brunswick stews were legendary; he was, after all, from Brunswick County, Virginia. He would start with a stovetop Dutch oven (“I’m just going to make enough for dinner…”) and end up with a huge pot he had to stir with a long wooden paddle. I loved taking a quart home, not only for a quick dinner on a cold night, but because his stew was a labor of love. And I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I will never taste fried oysters as good as my father’s again.

Don’t get me wrong. Mom is always happy to see us, but she’d rather go out to dinner than cook any day, so that’s what we do. I don’t blame her ... I just miss the feeling of knowing I was loved because my Daddy cooked something special for me. In fact, I think I inherited the love language of cooking from him.

I’ve come to believe there is no one in this world other than your parents who will love you unconditionally. I can say that as a daughter who has lost one parent, and as a parent myself. Maybe that’s why we feel so abandoned when we lose a parent. And if I didn’t know that I had a father in heaven who loves me no matter what, I imagine I’d feel like an orphan.

So I’m thankful for the father I had for 38 years here on earth, and for the father I will always have in heaven.

"The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children.” ~ Romans 8:16 (NIV)