Happy Birthday Dad. You Would Have Been 91 Years Old Today.

As I am getting ready to make a journey in a few weeks I stop and ponder of the day in which my father, James, was born today. I was never one to call him daddy, so I called him dad. I suppose I may have called him daddy as a child. Around this time of the year near his birthday he loved when cherries would come into season. He would eat them so much so and get his fill on them. In honor of him this evening I went and got a few cherries to enjoy. There used to be a well known bakery in Ohio called Hough's. He loved a white cake with buttercream frosting that they made and enjoyed it for his birthday. They went out of business but there was a local neighborhood bakery in which one of the bakers had the recipe. Yep, you guessed right, we would order one of those cakes now and then to celebrate his day.
My father really did have just about everything under the sun. He grew up in the depression era and he knew what it was like to have very little at one time in his life. He had his own business. This is kind of funny. If there was a local ad reflecting toilet paper or paper towels were on sale he would stock up so as to not run out. Let me tell you this, I can guarantee you he would not have run out of those items during this covid-19 stuff. He was not your average type of guy. When he retired he had a friend that was I think a chief of police in his community. He would tell me if I called him sometime that he was taking a nap that he was going to ride in the police car on the beat that night. Something like that he said. He enjoyed that and I think he had to sign some waiver to do that. He sure was unique. He was himself and he was not one to dress up if he did not want to. Meaning he would show up in his corduroys and flannel shirt if he wanted to, regardless of the dress code. He did like to wear his diamond pinky rings though and a very nice watch. So much so that we did not place a suit upon his body when he died and was buried. We selected an outfit befitting of how he dressed on a regular basis. He was somewhat easy at times to shop for birthdays, father's day etc. because he liked Izod v neck type of sweaters and things of that nature. Now, this is the man that had his own tuxedo at one time also. I think a cousin of mine has that very tuxedo. When he dressed up he was I would say a Dapper Dan, he knew how to dress fine. Meaning suit, tie, etc. nice polished shoes, he was as stickler for polished shoes.
I always remember him driving nice cars. For many years he drove Cadillac's until his later years he began to drive Lincoln's. I thought I always wanted a Cadillac myself throughout the years but maybe that has subsided a bit. It was a bit of a let down that we did not get to go through our fathers belongings when he died because an uncle that seemed to inherit quite a bit of his estate did not allow us to. I think I shared with you all that it amounted to a small box of old cards and things like that I received. Oh yes, the pair of cowboy boots too? They are just things here on earth what really matters is what is waiting for me in heaven, eternal life with Jesus forever. Yep, that is what brings life to my life. Trusting Him even when He doesn't t speak loud and clear and just gives you a hint here and there what is just ahead of me on my path to victory in Jesus.
It is getting down to crunch time in my life as my lease is ending and now I have to kick into a temporary lease and with that form of lease I am required to pay not just my monthly rent but a $125.00 fee added onto that. This is only allowed for a 2 month period of time. I have been here many times before, I call it standing on the edge and He is always on time and faithful and never lets me fall off the edge. He is there with me, Praise God. I seek Him to give me dreams of where to live and He gives me other dreams about my life. I spoke with a potential realtor today and they not only sell homes but also deal with rental properties. I was suppose to hear back by this evening what I qualify for and I heard nothing. So, I also have the name of another realtor I think I will call. My mother was a realtor for many years as we were growing up. I believe she earned a designation after her name and was one of the first years ago in our region. I remember the days when something had to be delayed because she had to show a house; write up a contract; or go to a closing. My mother was thoughtful and would buy a gift for her customers for their new home. She would say how her immigrant friends would tend to pay cash for their homes.
So, I went to bed late last night I think I was up until 4:00AM reading a book. When I woke this morning I finished reading the book. All along I kept thinking to myself this sounds like something I already read before but it was a new book. With inquiring questions I found out it is an updated version of a book I did read by the same author. I asked my mom if she still had the other book. I let her read it. She does, because I want to check something out when I visit with her. I was reading it and there was a sentence that does not make sense and I stopped to re-read the sentence a second time. I think there was maybe a connector word missing. I know I probably read that same thing before so I will search it out when I get back the other book. If so, then there is an editor out there that did not take the time to proof read this book. What is it about editors or proofreaders that they let little things slip by. I told you all this before I do not seek out misspelled words; typos or corrections. It is somewhat of a nuisance to me because it stops my train of thought while reading. I am reading along and then it is as if it is a flashing neon sign things like that pop out at me. Another thing, this is the same publisher that published the other book but the quality of print is not the best on a few pages, it seems to be at the bottom portion of the page. It is like it ran out of ink and a word is not printed. This book has 10+ endorsements in the beginning of the book and I think there is an error in one of the endorsements. Now maybe not it may just be the way the persons thought pattern operates. What I find perplexing is did not any of the people that wrote endorsements read the book through and catch these minor details? I would think a colleague or friend would look out for another and apprise them of this sort of stuff so it could be addressed and corrected. Causes me to really wonder if  there are those out there that write an endorsement in the front of the book, do they actually read the entire book. I know I would not put my seal of approval on something if I did not read it through would you? That is called not looking out for each other.
I was compelled to go visit a historic battlefield cemetery this afternoon. This is so God's timing. As I was driving down the road I am listening to The Crabb Family CD and sure enough, Amazing Grace was playing with one of the family members playing it mainly on the harmonica. I put that song on "repeat" mode as I drove in. That song is now still inside of me as I visit the cemetery. I am humming this song as I walk the path in the cemetery. It was a peaceful day and as I walked under the old trees the shade was welcoming to me. So many lives lost in this battle and not all of them buried there are from the state I reside in, I saw OH, PA, NY amongst others. People died defending our country and there are families that never saw their loved one return back to them safely. As I took a picture or two I noticed some sort of white image over the graves. There was not fog or mist or anything like that today. It was a clear day. What do you think?
Now, my father cannot be replaced by another person stepping into his unique pair of shoes but hey there was another that loved me like I was his daughter. That was my former father-in-law. He loved me and I loved him also. He would tell my mother that if they had a daughter (they only had sons) he would have liked her to be raised in the manner in which I was raised and be like I was. Isn't that sweet? My brothers are both deceased now and yes, people miss them and have fond memories of them also. Does one tend to glorify a person once they die just a bit? I think people tend to remember the sweet and loving memories but the not so sweet drop to the wayside. An example … my brother use to tease us girls and it was not funny all the time. No one seems to remember when he would do that. That was a part of who he was. That same brother knew how to persuade his sisters into doing his chores for him and he would pay us to do them or sometimes say he would not tell mom something we did. I will hand it to him that he was ingenious in his way. On the other hand, I remember having a brief conversation with my other brother at a family celebration and I did not take his conversation serious when he said he wanted to write a book. I sort of sluffed it off and did not take it serious. Hey I was the one that graduated from college and wanted to write a book was my thought. It was not but a short period of time after that last meeting that he died. I had guilt in me for that time. I since have asked forgiveness from Jesus and learned from that time. Everyone has a dream(s) and it is not up to us to thwart or deflate or take lightly the dream of another. Their dreams are just as valuable if not more so than our own dreams. I share so as to not have you walk down that road and have to learn the lesson of guilt and then asking forgiveness for the guilt to be lifted.