Cee’s Black & White Photo challenge this week is :Over Fifty.
http://ceenphotography.com/2014/02/12/cees-black-white-challenge-50-years-or-older/
As I read her post I found myself walking down the road to memory. I am nearly fifty myself now. My Dad died just days before his fiftieth birthday.
I find myself thinking of all the things he missed, all the memories he did not get to make. My youngest daughter, for instance, will be married this November. Dad never knew her. Yet his life touches hers still because part of what he was is in me.
Jesus said “If you have seen me you have seen the Father.” While that’s true for Jesus and the Father God, I guess in some small way it’s also true for every father and son. As much as we may not like it there are some things in us that reflect where we came from, who we came from. Maybe we express it differently. Perhaps we are more healed than our predecessors so what’s in us of them comes out in healthy ways instead of broken ways, but it’s still part of our heritage…our DNA.
The writer of Ecclesiastes wrote “There is nothing new under the sun.” Maybe, just maybe, that’s because each new generation is just a reflection of the last. Maybe we shine better. Maybe we shine worse. Maybe we shine further than our forbears. However, we shine, and it is something that the world has seen before.
The piano man.
Lillie-Put 
A beautiful post that has me in tears. I lost my dad suddenly and things like this always touch me deeply. Thank you for giving me blessings to think about…Skye
Thanks Skye. Writing about my dad is painful. We were just getting to the point in our relationship where we were friends and then he wad gone.
I know…it is so hard. My dad had just made the decision to move to NC instead of where I live. I tried and tired to convince him to come here. Within a month, he was in an horrible car accident with a boy who was texting on his way to the prom. The boy walked away completely unharmed (thankfully), but my dad (after eight months of ‘touch and go’ finally succumbed). It is never easy. I am sending prayers your way, Dear Friend.
I am so sorry for your loss Skye. A car accident is asuch a painful way to lose a loved one!
A great tribute to your dad. My dad died at 63 and i often thing how young that seems now, and how much of my family he missed.
I think however long we have our folks the time is too short. The hope of eternal life is all the more poignant for that reason.
I grew up without a father and it makes my heart sad at how much he missed in my life as well as my son’s life. We talk from time to time but there really isn’t a fatherly connection. But I do have a Heavenly Father that will never leave me, loves me unconditionally and we converse daily!
To know Him as Father is the greatest gift of all. I cannot wait to see our Heavenly Father face t face!
Me either! Amen!
My dad was taken way too soon as well (65). I try to emulate his many good qualities, most importantly, his service to others and his unconditional acceptance and love of everyone he met. Very thoughtful post. Thanks
You are welcome. With my dad I find the longer I live the more like him I become in my forthrightness. He was a very stolid and honest man.