STORYTIME TAPESTRY

Special Treat 

April 20, 2005

Daddy's Eighty-Eighth Birthday Dinner          

by Sharlett Hunt  5/19/05

   I sit across from my dad and look at his face.  I see the lines that are there and I realize that some of them were caused by me.  Today is his eighty-eighth birthday and we are having dinner at my house.  I cooked his favorite, chicken and yellow rice with cornbread and of course, I made a cake.  That's the very least I can do for a man who has not only lived so many years but has loved and been loved and lived so graciously for nearly a century. 

  He looks at me with a smile, mouth full, and says he thinks he might have some competition because my cornbread is better than his.  I think not and told him so.  My sister speaks up and reminds him that he taught us both how to make cornbread many years ago and will always be the champion.  He has always been a great cook, far back as I can remember and has always been bald and worn a black cowboy hat.  I tease him that he must have been born bald and he laughs.

  We continue our meal with some conversation, my dad talking about the old days.  I love when he does that!  He is so full of information about our family and tells little humorous anecdotes about aunts and uncles, long since gone.  He remarks that most are gone from his family and friends and are buried in the old cemetery back home.  The cemetery.  I became lost in thought then and didn't hear a lot more about this subject.

  I never had thought of how frightening it would be for me when he became eighty-eight.  I have seen his gravestone at the cemetery in Avon Park.  He likes to joke that is has his date of birth and that is all, so far.  My mother and stepmother are buried at each side of where he will be put to rest.  My brother is buried there also and that is very difficult to lose these loved ones and visit the graves to put pretty flowers on them and wonder if they know you are there.  But what will I do when I lose him?  Right now, I lose my breath at the thought.

  I come back to reality as my sister gets up to remove her plate and I realize it's time to light the candle on his cake and sing Happy Birthday.  I tell him to make a wish and blow it out and all the while my heart is breaking inside.  He looks tired today.  Usually he looks a lot younger than his years but today he looks old.  Or is it just me?  I just know this much.  I love him with all my heart and will cherish each day he has left on this earth and regret the days I wasted.  He says he will live into his hundreds as have some of his relatives.  As he blows out his candle, I know this is my wish. 

Sharlett Hunt

Sharlette863 @aol.com


About Me:

I was born in Alabama, the middle of
seven children. At about age four we moved
to Central Florida and I have lived here
most of my life. I am a Viet Nam Era
Veteran. I have always enjoyed writting
and as I get older it seems to come more
naturally to me. I believe
everyone has many stories inside them and
some are blessed to be able to share them