Hey - I think that I just had a brief, but very enjoyable chat, with the spirit of my late father (please see my previous post regarding the 20th anniversary of his death).
I was waiting in line at Books & Co. and I noticed a commemorative magazine on display titled "Ronald Reagan at 100." It featured a 1970ish photo of a very dapper looking Reagan on the cover.
Some old guy behind me in line obviously noticed the magazine as well because he very dryly and bluntly said to nobody in particular: "Reagan at 100? I thought he was dead." The other two folks in line fidgeted a bit, but I cracked up.
I turned to the guy and deadpanned: "Yeah - he's looking pretty good for 100, isn't he?" The guy gave me a big smile and said "I thought we were supposed to stop counting when we die." I said "Not if you're famous. They just keep counting." Without missing a beat this guy says: "Well, thank God I'm not famous because I never want to be 100-years-old." :-)
It was odd because it wasn't until I headed down the road to the post office that I suddenly realized: "Damn. That was probably the exact conversation my dad and I would have had if we had been standing in line together at the book store."
Those kinds of casual and fleeting occurrences give me faith. Faith in what, I don't know - but faith nonetheless.
It was nice talking to you, dad.
.
2 comments:
Thanks to my brother Tim for the very generous Books & Co. gift certificate this past Christmas. Without that I would not have been at the store this morning for my rendezvous (in spirit) with dad.
I've had those Dad moments...one was when I was in church by myself and this old man was standing at front of center aisle in front of altar and proceeded to play "Ave Maria" with his violin, looking straight at me...moved me to tears and I went up to tell him how Dad played that alot and how much it meant to me.!
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