Did You Send Him?

Everywhere I looked today, I saw people wearing green shirts or green pants or green dresses or green hats or green shoes or green jewelry ... heck, I bet a ton of people even wore green underwear today in celebration of St. Patrick's Day. I know the following admission will probably come back to haunt me, but I didn't wear anything green today. My lack of green attire on this the greenest of all holidays really has very little to do with dear old St. Paddy and almost everything to do with the fact that green is my least favorite color. I think I may have owned only two or three pieces of green clothing in my entire lifetime ... I'm a blue and red gal through and through. I know people probably think when St. Patrick's Day rolls around each year that I'm a scrooge, but I'm not ... really, seriously ... I like a good green beer as much as anyone, as long as I close my eyes and pretend it's not green that is, and I love wearing hats and looking for pots of gold at the end of rainbows. It's not the holiday itself I don't like, it's all the green ... green, green and more green ... that's what I don't like about today. Well, all the green and the fact that St. Patrick's Day was my dad's birthday and we had a ton of St. Patrick's Day-themed birthday parties for him over the years.

As has always been true on St. Patrick's Day for as far back as I can remember, the first person I thought of when I woke up this morning was Daddy. As I scooped coffee into the coffee maker, I thought about his 65th birthday. We had a big party for him that year, and I'll never forget the huge smile on Daddy's face as he sat at the kitchen table wearing a green top hat and an oversize plastic green bow tie. He was so happy that day, not because we were celebrating his birthday, but because we were together ... I remember Daddy had an extra twinkle in his eyes that day and an extra spring in his step. It wasn't long after his 65th birthday that Daddy was diagnosed with Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, and it was only a few months after his 75th birthday that he passed away. Daddy would have been 97 years old today ... my sweet dad would have been 97 years old today.

Perhaps it was because I was missing Daddy so much today, but it was one of those days when I felt as though I was all alone in the world. It was a super busy day at work, which meant that other than a couple of bathroom breaks and lunch, I sat at my desk and barely moved. Late this morning, the temporary crown the dentist put on my tooth on Saturday broke ... seems I have a thing about breaking teeth these days (even fake ones), so I left a little early to go back to the dentist to have another one put on. Since the dentist said not to eat for a couple of hours following my appointment, I raced home, changed clothes and headed out to take Ollie for a quick walk on the trail ... well ... I thought I was going for a quick walk anyway ... a quick, lonely walk, just me and my dog.

I saw him before we got to the end of the first wooden bridge ... the adorable young man with the incredible blue eyes and curly red hair, and the minute he saw us walking, he smiled broadly, waved and shouted hello. I've seen him tons of times out on the trail, and he works at the Walmart just down the street from my house. From the first time I met him, he's always been polite and kind ... and he is always smiling ... I've never seen this kid not smiling. We've never chatted much, only in passing really, so I was surprised this evening when he picked up his skateboard, took the headphones out of his ears and fell in and walked with Ollie and me. The conversation began with talking about dogs, school, families and such, but the farther we walked, the deeper our subject matter became ... another post for another night ... but suffice it to say, that kid completely blessed me tonight in a big huge way with his quick and easy smile, his twinkling eyes and his kind and compassionate heart. It turns out we live just a couple of streets over from one another ... for all the countless times I've seen him, I had no idea that we lived so close to one another. By the time we returned to our neighborhood, I knew I had made a new friend ... we hugged and said goodbye, both of us agreeing that we'd like to walk together again soon.

A quick and easy smile ... twinkling eyes ... a kind and compassionate heart ... my dad's birthday. I wonder ... I can't help but wonder ... did you send that kid to me tonight, Daddy? Did you send him because he reminded me of you? Was that you watching over me? Letting me know you'll live in my heart forever? Did you send him, Daddy? Did you?