Daddy’s Home Dr. Juan Harrison
Daddy’s Home
For most of us regular folks life tends to be a series of small events rather than a few bigger ones. We mostly live in quiet anonymity. I try to make myself available for Mamaw’s preschool around lunchtime as I help the little ones with their lunches. Then it’s dishwashing time. After that I get their folders loaded with the day’s papers and put them and the lunch kits in the backpacks to go home. This frees up Mamaw to focus on instruction and projects they may be finishing up to take home to the folks for show and tell. Nothing earthshaking. Just getting er dun.
Our days are filled with pieces making up the whole. Some days are thankfully dull. Others, hopefully rarely, have more than our share of news or excitement. Some days the mail lady brings bills; some days an occasional check; then there’s the ones with only a useless circular from the hardware store or a credit card application for a card you already have.
Seems like marriages tend to mirror our regular lives. Most of the time we’re content to each do our part to keep the ship afloat. Some days just feel like they’re full of conflict and dysfunction. Words get crossed. People get ticked off. Spouses need a little extra breathing space. Then there’s the good days with a little extra gravy on the chicken fry.
For most of us there’s little worry spent on our overall safety or where the next meal is coming from. We don’t give a lot of thought to the rest of the world where in many places they don’t or can’t take for granted what you and I do. That’s about the time I say thank you Lord for what you’ve given me or spared me.
Sometimes I wonder how I was chosen to live in a relatively free land of plenty instead of some remote village in a jungle or a refugee camp in the Middle East. I’ve seen or visited places like that knowing that sooner or later I’d be free to return to my land of plenty. Each time the journey home seemed to hold more significance and more anticipation of once again enjoying the blessed life most of us experience here.
As I look out my window I see my dependable mail lady right on schedule. I just returned from the local Dollar store in the nearby shopping center where I found the shelves well stocked and picked up my milk and bread. The nearby gas station had plenty of fuel to meet our needs. Most of us got to experience the joy growing up, at least for a while of hearing a brother or sister shout, “Daddy’s home.” I think that’s the feeling most of us crave. Sometimes we’ve had to live our lives at times when that feeling of security was no longer there. Here’s hoping for more of those good days along with a greater appreciation for them in the future.
By Dr. Juan Harrison
