The Next Challenge for my Father

This last week and next week, I'm traveling back and forth to Atlanta to help my parents get ready to move. They've sold the house they lived for thirty-six years, and are getting ready to move into an apartment at my sisters house--proving again that in the end, we are little different from crustaceans, discarding one home for another. The reason for the move is my father and mother's health, particularly my father's. He has suffered two strokes in the past year, and can only walk with a cane or a walker. the house is just too big for them to manage now, and they will need help from the family. It saddens me to see my father crippled. It is so unlike him. My father has always been (and will remain in my mind) a strong, stubborn, independent man, who needed no help and asked none. He has always been the rock of stability which held out family together. There is a story about my father I heard when I was young. I do not know if I remember it accurately, but it has always stuck in my mind as part of my picture of him. The story was that he entered a yo-yo contest as a child. While the other children were demonstrating what tricks they could pull, Dad just kept on yo-yoing, p and down, until he outlasted the others. It was so typical of my father--nothing fancy, but steady and dependable. Even though he weighed less than a hundred and fifty pounds, he played tackle on his high school football team. I don't know whether he was ever recognized as such, but I do not he played the game like he played every other game, with determination and ferocity. In World War II, Dad was injured before he could be sent into battle, which is why the war lasted as long as it did. He spend two years recuperating. The doctors wanted to take his legs, but he refused. He kept going and made a complete recovery. After the war he went to college at Georgia Tech--the first in his family to graduate. He went on to work in the mills as a textile engineer. Later, he worked in an insurance firm, and worked his way up to district sales manager, propelled by his sense of responsibility and by his desire to see his children prosper more than he did. He was often gone for days at a time visiting clients and providing a living. His climb caused us to move several times, but he was always thinking of the family. My sister and I went to college, and came out without owing a dime, because of his sacrifices. He retired early, and went to work for another company. He finished his work life years ago. Now he leaves a spotless life and a spotless reputation. I will never be the man my father is--even now, when he is on a cane and I can still walk strong, I can only aspire to his strength of will and determination. I can only thank him and God that I have benefitted from his protection and care. I hope that he will be around for years to come, and be happy in his new role as protected patriarch. He and mother deserve all the honor we can give them. I am sure that they will face this next challenge in life with the same commitment of spirit as they have all the others.