Fathers

So we kept up our tradition of M taking the girls strawberry picking while I was away all day adjudicating students at my youth orchestra auditions (which happened to fall again this year on the day before Father's Day).

Aren't they just gorgeous?

Again M requested a strawberry rhubarb pie as his Father's Day present.  (Of course the girls and I made him some fun cards and did all sorts of super-secret crafting to go along with the pie.)

Since this happens to be my Dad's favorite pie, and we had plans to see him the next day, I made one up for him as well.

As I was making the pies, all the girls were in bed and the house was quiet.  It was one of those rare moments where I was busy with a well-practiced task that didn't need much thought and... again, it was quiet (how rare!)... so my mind was free to wander and reflect.

I got to thinking about fathers, and how if you look behind many a strong or accomplished woman, you will find a supportive husband or a loving father.

Somehow, I got lucky enough to have both.

(Not to imply that I put myself in the "strong" or "accomplished" category... yeah... emphasis goes on the "lucky" here.)

I felt the ways in which my husband and my father have kept me afloat, either in the active things they have done or continue to do, or in the things I now know because they taught them to me.

As I made them their pies and said prayers of gratitude, it was as if I could feel the love and lessons of these two most important men in my life, and the love I have for them, around me and beneath me... a culmination of years.

(I don't really know how to describe it other than that.  I wish it weren't so late and I wasn't so tired and I had better metaphors or even just adjectives.)

Anyway, thanks to my father for that culmination of years.  I am beyond grateful.

And to my husband, whose years are just beginning with our own children and already the work he has done in loving and strengthening seems like decades.

Happy Father's Day to you both!

(And by the way... that pie was out of this world.  This is mainly due to the freshness of the ingredients--nothing like strawberries and rhubarb picked fresh out of the field going straight into a pie-- and has very little to do with my baking skills, I think.  But maybe I will post my conglomeration pie recipe here someday, at least so that it will be written down somewhere and not just in my head... someday... when I'm not so tired... ... goodnight!)