User:Stuart/Dad

My Dad

My Dad was a teacher.
He taught me to accept people as they are and not as I think they should be.
He taught me to make plans but always be prepared for them to be thrown away at the first instance.
He tried, a few times, to teach me ship stability, but that never took.
He taught me the contentment you could achieve by sitting on the top of a mountain and enjoying being there.
And the satisfaction you could achieve with a nice pint after the walk.

My Dad was a student.
He wanted to learn about everyone he met.
He'd greet a waiter in a cafe with the same enthusiasm that he'd greet an old friend, and be genuinely interested to learn about them and their life in the same way.
He was learning to speak Spanish, to play the accordion, forever learning new skills on the computer.
He was always trying to improve, never just accepting that he was done and there was no point in changing any more.

My Dad was a counsellor.
He would listen, without judgement or impatience, to anyone who needed to talk.
He would be the rock you could rely on when you were unsure of the ground you were standing on.

My Dad was all of these things and more and I miss him.

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I'm going to finish with something he wrote after he completed his Camino:

I am very very happy.

Words to describe the feeling in all its depth and richness are so difficult to find.
Life it seems cannot stop giving me gift after gift. I am reminded of Meister Eckhart
and his description of an overflowingness of Life that cannot stop giving. Also of that
poetic piece from Davina of Findhorn.

My feelings are of gratitude and surprise, reassurance and encouragement, thankfulness
for the rich blessings that I am given, the Friendships I am given, surprise at what
comes 'out of the blue', trust in life, awareness of the transience of life and the
willingness to embrace the joys I am given knowing that all my life experiences are
transient except where we are all headed.

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