Iphone October 2011 872

We have wooden sidewalk at Moriah.

Every time I walk down that sidewalk I think of my daughter.

From my earliest days I had always had the desire to one day have a daughter. My mother used to tell me that that would never happen… that our family was incapable of having anything but boys.

I was so blessed the day that little girl was born and my mother was proven wrong. She was born on my birthday… what a wonderful present to receive. It will be hard to ever top that one.

Shortly after moving into Moriah that daughter, the one my mother said that I would never have, became engaged to get married. And, she wanted to have her reception here at the house. That sounded fine to me.

My wife though expressed her opinion that the plywood scraps that we had been using for a sidewalk might not be appropriate for the wedding guests to use. Sometimes women can be mighty fussy about things like this. I offered to paint them, but that just got me in more trouble.

You see, we had moved into this house in a “partially unfinished condition” and the sidewalk was always at the bottom of my list of things to do. Funds were pretty lean at this moment of time and I just couldn’t put in a stone sidewalk, but I did have left-over pieces of Ipe that I had used to build all the porches here at the house… and it was highly rot-resistant. It might just work… I could build a sidewalk out of that!

The day quickly arrived for me to walk my daughter down the isle at a local church. Everyone expected old Dad to be weepy. But my daughter was grinning from ear to ear, so I was happy too. Not going to see me tear up, no sir.

Then it was time to head back to Moriah where in the log room of the house I danced with my daughter in her beautiful gown. Everyone again expected old Dad to be weepy, but why would I do that? … This was a time to celebrate!

I had a great time at that reception, talking to friends and family, and then, I was told that everyone was to go outside. Folks gathered on both sides of the new sidewalk. I beamed with pride. Just look at that sidewalk! It was a good day.

Then my daughter and her new husband came running down the sidewalk, everyone cheered, and then the over-dressed couple hopped into a car and sped off.

I looked at my wife and asked… “What time will she be back?” She rubbed my arm and responded… “She’s not coming back, honey, she’s married now”.

That’s the moment it all sunk in, and that’s the moment I fell apart.

Right there on that sidewalk.

 

Originally posted 2015-04-04 16:37:12.