Fathers' Day is only a few days away so the storyhour we took the clients to today was all about Dads. The Storylady read book after book about great dads, some human, some penguin. Afterwards she passed out a card to each kid for them to color for their dads. The card read, 'Dad, You're out of this world!' with some funky looking aliens and then, 'Happy Fathers' Day'. We had eight clients there.
Only three of them have Dads to give cards to.
One of the clients colored a card and then tore off the top part, the part that said 'Dad, You're out of this world!'. Another colored one to place on a headstone. The others that don't have dads just colored for something to do and then threw them away.
The more I thought about it the closer to tears I got.
Three out of Eight.
Dad? Have I ever told you how glad I am that I have you? Having a Dad at all is pretty lucky. Having one like you, that is always there for me, that stands by me, listens to my rants, and loves me anyway. That. That is an incredible blessing.
I know I am far, far from the perfect daughter. I make my fair share of mistakes, am the cause of plenty of disappointments, don't help out in the yard enough. But I have never once doubted that you love me. Thank you so much for that. Unconditional love is rare these days, even in families, and I'm so lucky to be a part of a family with so much love.
Thank you for being my Dad. I can only imagine how scary my world would be without you.
I love you.
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
Wednesday, June 4, 2014
Just That Spoonful of Sugar
This afternoon for the last hour and a half at work I was just hanging out with one client. He didn't want to go anywhere so I popped in his favorite movie; Mary Poppins. It was a VHS and hadn't been rewound but since we didn't have time for the whole thing anyways we just watched from where it was at. Which was about here:
I can't tell you how many times I've seen this movie, heard this song, and even sang along. But this time I guess I was listening a little differently. Maybe it was because I had spent the day with some amazing people doing everything I could think of to make them smile, laugh, and have a good day...Or maybe it's just because I am a very emotional person...Either way I found myself choking back tears. I've been less than impressed with some of the clients' parents lately, and I know I can't judge/I don't know/understand everything/etc. But...Well some of them have very 'bread and water' lives.
'A spoonful of sugar goes a long long way, have yourself a healthy helping everyday.'
They deserve more. They are the most innocent, sweet, loving, accepting, amazing spirits on the earth. Seeing them smile, hearing them laugh, receiving a hug; these are more than incentive enough to make sure they're getting 'tea and cakes'.
Life is hard, no matter who you are, but that Spoonful of Sugar helps The Medicine go down. Whether The Medicine is a rough home life, physical disabilities, mental troubles, bad days, or, actual meds. I think that for most of our clients what we do is a Spoonful of Sugar for them. I'm sure it's not their only Spoonful, I'm sure their families are constantly spooning out sugar, doing their best to turn the bread to cake.
As I sat there, holding back tears and thinking of cake, I came to a conclusion. I want to be a Spoonful of Sugar. When Life starts tasting bitter for these clients I hope I always can manage to pour out enough Sugar to take the edge off. The more I thought about it the more grateful I became for the wondrous opportunity I have right now. Right now I can be that Spoonful of Sugar, not only at work but in my everyday life with my nieces and nephews. The great thing about not being the parent is that you don't have to be the parent. You can be the fun aunt, the friend, the buddy. You get to be pure Sugar.
I'm going to do everything I can to be that Spoonful of Sugar that never runs out, always there to make life a smidgen sweeter and the tea a little less bitter.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)