My First Love

I could not speak. My breath caught in my throat. The voice on the other end said, “Are you alright?” I muttered, “I will call you back.”

My thoughts were adrift in rapid movement of my dad, his life as I knew it and our 59 year relationship.

I know that more than once I have heard or been told that the basis of all male relationships a girl has is predicated upon the relationship she was afforded with the first man in her life – her father. I will not venture into the how it can benefit or hinder our future love relationships. I will however, share with you a birds-eye view of my relationship with my own father. (I read the following as a tribute to him on his “home going day.”)

The first man I ever loved was my Daddy.
(God tells us in His word to love and protect our children and my daddy did just that.)

He taught me how to dance by stepping on his feet when I was small. I would hold on tight and we would twirl and slide around the kitchen floor. When we were out and I would tire from walking – he would carry me on his back and I would put my arms tightly around his neck and kiss him on the back of his bald head as he carried me piggy-back down the street.

As I grew, he taught me how to ride a bike, change the oil in a car, drive a boat, tie nautical knots, and paint primer on a car. It did not matter what we did, just as long as I was with him.

OH, LIFE WAS EASY THEN LIKE SOFT SWEET BUTTER ON HOMEMADE BREAD.

In the summers we would spend Sundays after church on the Kanawha and Coal rivers. We would dock on sandy beaches and talk to other boaters, eat the chicken mom had fried, drink some pop and just before the sunset we would head home.

He was a man of few words, HE NEVER SPANKED ME- He’d simply say “NORA ANN” … and I would listen.

AND LIFE WAS EASY THEN LIKE SOFT SWEET BUTTER ON HOMEMADE BREAD.

I was proud of my daddy and he was proud of me.

When I made some decisions that changed the road I’d intended to travel…

And life wasn’t so easy anymore,

He was there to love and support me. And he never said “I told you so”.
He always told me I could be whatever I wanted to be!

He never presumed.
He always persevered…even when he fell off a ladder cleaning leaves out of the gutters…fractured some ribs and later was found to have a clot on his brain sustained in the fall – he preserved!

Even when he learned that a tire rolls down a driveway faster than people; and he ended up in the hospital – with a 3 fractured vertebrae in his cervical neck and shards of glass around his eyes from his broken glasses that didn’t penetrate his eyes (God was merciful) and Dad persevered!

He was strong, determined, kind, gentle and sweet in a salty way! And he planted the same seeds in me!

I PRAISE GOD FOR THE MAN WHO LOVED ME, PROVIDED WELL FOR ME – and helped to shape me into the woman I am today.

HE WAS MY DADDY…THE FIRST MAN I EVER LOVED.
(End of tribute)

Jesus walked my daddy into heaven on June 10, 2009 at 10 AM.

I am always awed at God’s faithfulness! Around 9 am that morning I asked God to take my daddy’s hand and walk him comfortably and without fear into heaven. As I prayed that prayer – a vision of dad and Jesus walking hand-in-hand popped into my mind. Dad had a hospital gown on with the split in the back – and I chuckled at the vision and felt peace. The message came two hours later and I was reminded of the prayer and the vision!

Now, he’s free from pain and free from worry and it gives me great joy to know that he is worshipping at the feet of the Savior.

Father God, creator of all life, thank you for the life of William Alexander Smith. Thank you that you picked him to be my daddy but most of all thank you that he living in eternity just as you promised to those who believe that you are Our Creator, Savior and Redeemer!

My heart is comforted by God’s promises in MATTHEW 5:4.

BLESSED ARE THOES THAT MOURN FOR THEY WILL BE COMFORTED.
AND IN ISAIAH 61: THAT THOSE THAT MOURN WILL BE PLANTED LIKE MIGHTY OAKS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS FOR HIS GLORY. He will care for all their needs and give them bouquets of roses instead of ashes. (Adapted from the Message Bible.)