Cherish It All [Union Springs Herald]

By: Nathan Dickson, Attorney

[Link to Union Springs Herald article]

Ten years ago today my father’s soul left this earth. For those who have suffered a loss, ten years seems like two. It might get easier, but it never reaches easy. There was a sense of mercy on that sad day as well, as there really does come a moment in a terrible disease where you are comfortable saying, “enough is enough.”

Ten years ago today is the same day my now ten-year-old son started crawling for the first time. For those who have children, ten years also seems like two. It definitely doesn’t get easier, but what a joy it has been every moment along the way.

As I reflect on that day in my life ten years ago, and all the love that nurtured me before its passing from this life, and all the love I have for that child that has started moving into exploring his own life since, I’m not sure if there is a lesson to take from this day in March 2011, or not. The circle of life happens, sure, and sometimes it is gradual and evolving, and sometimes two of its big events coincide. Did God have its hand in that, giving me some sense of perspective, or is that not really how it works? In either case something unfathomable was lost for a family and its patriarch, and a milestone of growth and adventure was marked for a family and its child.

Days like today should be remembered, felt, and honored. Life hits us all in big moments, and it struck a blow on us ten years ago. But it strikes us in wonderful ways as well every day if we are paying attention. My youngest child, who my dad never got to meet, will stop me in my tracks on a somewhat regular basis with a wry smile that is the spitting image of my dad. Jokes and phrases and funny faces my dad taught me are the same jokes and phrases and funny faces that are part of my interactions with my boys all the time. Who I am as a person in my best moments are reflections of watching my father carry himself with grace through this life for 63 years.

For what has been lost, and for what I have gained, I am so immensely grateful on this day. And for every day I get to weave together my past, my present, and maybe my children’s future with their kids, I give a full-throated measure of thanksgiving for the chance to have experienced it all. Life goes on, and in ways we don’t often realize, so do we.

Cherish it all.