I was 5 in June of ‘86 when we had to move to New Jersey From Dallas for Dad’s job. Mom’s dad had been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer that spring. We had flown back for thanksgiving that year. I remember I had brought “a gift” for him in my suitcase that my parents had no idea about. It was a brown paper lunch sack full of oak, gum, maple, ash and other tree leaves of all different colors from the fall. I said, “Papaw, I never saw these colors here so I brought them to you.” You’d thought I brought him a bucket of gold bricks by the look on his face.
We had plane tickets to fly back on the 26th of Dec for Christmas, as it was horrifically expensive to fly on the holidays during that time. Got a call on Christmas Eve morning that we needed to fly home right then and there. Now.
somehow, dad got the money together and we got a flight midday on Christmas Day from PHL to DFW. My uncle picked us up from the airport and they took me, just turned 6, and my 3 yr old sister to Papaw and Mamaw’s house where older second cousins were baby sitting us.
Mom and Dad rushes to the hospital and got there about 8:30 or so. Dad went in to see him, and he asked what he bought us for Christmas. He walked out and his only daughter, my mom, went in to see him. He asked her the same. She said, “dad, we spent what we could to get here to see you, we got them some things but seeing you was what matters most.” He called my grand mom in there, and told her to get us a few extra things. Then he told my mom, “I was hanging on for you to get here, I love you”. And he passed.
Love can drive the human body to do crazy things. They didn’t think he’d make it a week after thanksgiving, and they had no reason to believe he’d be alive 2 days after they’d called in a preacher to pray over him in the 24th. But seeing his daughter one more time drove him home.
I love this time of year even though one of my first real memories of the holiday is one of great sadness, but it’s one of reflection as well. That sadness has been reciprocated many times over by joyous memories, but it also prepared me for three uncles I’ve lost within 10 days of either side of Christmas. It’s these times I find even greater strength in my faith