Father

Challenging days personally as my family respond and care for my Dad who is in hospital, having had a fall last week. Nothing broken, but at the age of 91 - alotted with all the many other struggles of being that old, a fall is significant.

I was thinking how important Dad's are, and reliving the many memories I have of my dad:
I remember the numerous occasions when I would be ill in bed with a temperature and dad would always worry, and then at the end of the day re-appear with a bottle of Lucozade to give me recovery energy.

I remember the moment when we laid the concrete for the house drive and we all had to dip our toes into concrete to imprint our feet into the finished drive.

The moment when we were sailing just he and me, and the wind became too strong and I was panicking and we had to beach because I wasn't heavy enough.

The numerous times Dad would be doing DIY and I would watch and learn, and how he would let me have a go.

The days when he and mum would come to watch me play rugby, even though other priorities could have called.

The times when he would mend my bike, and when the car came later - sometimes at late hours, spend time and effort repairing it to make it work.

I remember Dad's constantly messy office desk - papers everywhere, and thinking how on earth can he ever find anything, and then 30 years on find that my desk has ended up the same.

I think of the spirit in my dad that never gave up, that never gave in to something being un-mendable and the amazing lateral thinking that produced solutions where others would have thrown away.

More recently I remember Dad saying to me how he was so proud of me, as he in his frailty had lost dexterity and technical ability and watched me do, what he used to, and feeling so deeply moved by Dad's words.

The days ahead are really quite challening, and I'm not sure that I let alone my mum or my brothers are ready for what may or may not develop.