Celebrating Life!

Daddy in Santa Ana, CA 

Today I'm celebrating Life!

Since Saturday, when our family lost our beloved Talmage Cook ... Daddy, grandfather, uncle, friend ... my thoughts and deeds have been centered around him.  Sweet thoughts.  Lingering memories.  Tearful conversations.  All good.  Then today crept up on me ...  

... how could it be that today is my birthday?  I wanted to keep it low-key, giving all my energy to my delightful daddy.  But this morning I thought I clearly heard him yell from heaven's golden gate, "Happy Birthday, Sharon! Go ahead and celebrate!  And while you're at it, shake a leg for me!"  

Yep, that's our Dad ... always joking, laughing and carrying on as if he could actually dance himself.  Parkinson's kept him from the dance in his later years, but nothing could keep him from honking the bicycle horn attached to his wheelchair (a subtle gift from my brother John), and playing Down in the Valley on his harmonica.

The Bible is so right.  There's a time to laugh and a time to cry, a time to live and a time to die.  Our days here are numbered.  Eternity is not.  Let's dance while we can.  Laugh as much as possible.  Love all the time.  Because who knows, you might be the one at heaven's gate that is yelling down for your loved one to 'go ahead and celebrate!'

Thanks, Daddy, for giving me permission to celebrate the day I was born sixty-seven years ago in a little southern town in South Carolina.

Snowbirds skating around my Birthday roses

In memory of my father I'm posting the first paragraph of Chapter Three in Lady and the Sea, a novel based on my true story.  Serving in the Navy,  Daddy has finally returned home after a year in Japan and Korea:

   Rose was awakened by someone gently nudging her shoulder.  A deep, familiar voice whispered, "Rose, wake up, Daddy's home."

   She slowly opened her eyes.  In the glow of her night-light, a tanned, handsome man was kneeling next to her bed.  Am I dreaming? she wondered.  The uniform made him look like one of those movie stars she had seen on their black and white television.  The soldier took his daughter in his arms, and she clung to her daddy until her brother leaped out of bed.

   "Daddy!  Daddy!" Philip cheered as he jumped into his father's arms.  "Daddy, now we can play Geepo!"  Talmage loved hiding in closets and then jumping out with arms waving, yelling, "Geepo is going to get you!"  Daddy and Philip could run through the house laughing and screaming for hours.  Rose didn't like the frightful game one bit.

   "We'll play Geepo tomorrow, and next week we're all going to the San Diego Zoo."

   Finally, Katherine said, "It's late; Daddy needs his rest."  Rose caught her mother winking at her father, but she was too young to understand their secret message...

Memories are made of this.

www.sharonleaf.com

A Time to Live...a time to die...

My hero ... my Daddy

My morning began with a phone call from my brother in Utah, telling me softly that our beloved Daddy had passed away.  When the moment finally came to be given this sad news, I had peace knowing that he was now in the presence of the Lord, dancing his way through heaven, something he was unable to do down here on earth due to Parkinson's Decease.

My Daddy loved God, family, and his country.  He was a dancer--we danced in our small living room to the 45RPM records of Vaughn Monroe, ice skater--he bought me my first pair of ice skates and took me skating almost every Saturday, swimmer--he spent hours in his pool with his grandkids, hiking...anything that kept his body moving.  Even when Parkinson's struck his body, he continued going on the assisted living annual camping trips where he could cruise down a river with no pain.

Yep, my 90-year-old Dad lived a full life.  After Mom died at the early age of 66, he joined a senior citizen group and traveled the world; he even came to visit Rob and I for three weeks while we lived in Sweden in 1992.  I must say he 'got around.'  All who knew him were blessed by his humor and zest for life.

Tonight as I open to read the first few chapters of my book, Lady and the Sea, I find that I'm straining to read the words through tear-filled eyes.  I made a point to write about my mother and father so I could leave a legacy of love to my own children.  Now, in the quietness of my living room, the words on these pages sooth my soul.

Tonight my heart is half-heavy, half-light, knowing that I'll never see him again down here, yet excited that I'll see him one day in our heavenly home where we will dance together again ... for eternity.

I love you, Talmage Keith Cook, my father, my hero ... my Daddy.

Last time with Daddy in October '12

www.sharonleaf.com

Life, Death and Birthdays

Dad is celebrating his birthday today, and Monday was the 23rd anniversary of when my beloved Mother went to be with the Lord at the young age of 66. I wish Mom were here to blow out her 89 candles, and I'm wishing I was in Zion, Utah to watch Daddy blow out his 87. I was there last August for the occasion, but my brother and I agreed that this year I would wait until October, when the weather is perfect, so Dad can enjoy the great outdoors. But still, part of me longs to be next to him as he blows out his candles.

~ So I'll wait until October to sit with him on the patio that overlooks the majestic Zion National Park. I look forward to his World War II stories, especially the one when he met Mom at a local canteen in Sumter, South Carolina. I've heard the story countless times, but I love seeing his smile light up his wrinkled face as he tells of how they danced all night. Then I remind him of when I was a little girl and we danced in our living room to the tunes of Glenn Miller and Rosemary Clooney*. "You were my personal dance instructor," I tease. Then as I glance at the wheelchair that holds his shaking body, I shed a tear.

~ Mom is gone, and Dad bravely lives his life with Parkinson's Decease. "Getting old is not for sissies," he often says. That's right, Dad. And you're no sissy. You are one of the bravest men I know.

~ I know we'll all be together one day, not celebrating birthdays, but celebrating life--throughout eternity! Now, that's something to smile about. In fact, that makes me feel like dancing! Anyone care to join me?
Oceans of blessings, Sharon
* You can dance to Sway by Rosemary Clooney on my FaceBook wall

Picture: Daddy and my son Shawn at Dad's 85th birthday in California 07.