Tuesday, October 18, 2016

Dad’s List

When I was young,
my dad would talk about retiring,
how he wanted to sit on the front porch
and watch the cars drive by.
I thought that wasn’t much of a goal,
and a waste of time.
As I reflect on what dad said,
I don’t think he could have
just sat, and watched.
He always had a list,
made new everyday,
of all the things he had to fix.
It was categorized in A, B, C importance.
Then numbered in 1, 2, 3 order.
Anything he didn’t finish
got moved to the next day’s list.
He was a doer, not a sitter.
When he had spare time,
he would go for a walk.
He kept himself busy,
usually with the list
that included more than just his things to fix.
He helped his kids,
his neighbors, and friends.
He helped until he couldn’t see and couldn’t stand.
He refinished, reupholstered,
framed, carved, rewired,
sanded, stained, etched, drew
plans again for something new.
He fixed the old and falling apart.
He built new, like a piece of art.
No, I don’t think my dad would have ever just sat.
I think that list was where he was at.

by:  Paula D. Nevison

No comments:

Post a Comment

I moderate comments only to keep fools from gumming up my pages with repetitive idiotic spam.

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.