L.A. McLeod, California Artist & Writer
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Five Great Kids

5/31/2021

9 Comments

 
Picture
Shuttle driver.  Doctor.  Janitor.  Fellow resident.  Everyone who encountered my dad heard the same story.  

“I’ve got five great kids,” he’d boast, holding up his hand, fingers spread apart like exclamation marks.  “Four daughters,” he’d say, carefully folding the fingers over, leaving a hitchhiker’s thumb—missing half its nail since that last power tool incident— “and one son. Five great kids and not a lemon in the bunch!”  

If you lingered, he would slowly recite the names, sometimes struggling but never failing to come up with all five.  
   
Though he’s been gone for several years, my sister and I still marvel at the miracle of this man we call “New Dad.” 

The father we were more familiar with was driven:  a scientist and entrepreneur, always chasing the next invention that would make him a millionaire and silence the “never-good-enough” inner voice of the boy who grew up, literally, on the wrong side of the tracks. Other than the occasional memorable bout of paternal discipline, he left the child-rearing to our mother while he focused on business and loomed large but inaccessible in the periphery of domestic life.

It wasn’t until Alzheimer’s slowly and decisively shut the door on his ambitions that our dad was transformed—in the best way.   Stripped of his dreams, his car, home, health, and even his wife of 63 years, New Dad emerged with gradual acceptance, twinkle-eyed humor, and a buoyant love for family that rose like a submerged beach ball, impossible to keep down. 

Tragedy and redemptive beauty sometimes walk side-by-side.  When all else is lost, love remains, triumphant. 
9 Comments
John Baker
5/31/2021 05:53:23 pm

Love the ending about the beach ball analogy!

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Margie
5/31/2021 08:32:11 pm

Your writing is so down to earth and honest . It took me back to my time with my dad .

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Amy Lively link
6/1/2021 07:04:53 am

Thank you for sharing the bright hope even in the darkest of diagnoses.

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Denise
6/1/2021 09:12:45 am

I love how descriptively you wrote. In just a few short sentences you had me already understanding parts of who your dad was.

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Marlies Fiske
6/1/2021 08:03:49 pm

Beautiful writing. Loved how you described your dad getting Alzheimer’s and becoming more loving

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Grace M Thompson
6/1/2021 08:41:56 pm

The details of a father proudly presented his 5 children all of whom he so proud of. Love conquers everything. I like the "New Dad". Yet only wish that he was not sick and spent more of his time when his kids needed him growing up.

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Jess
6/2/2021 08:36:38 am

My grandpa and my husband's grandpa both had Alzheimer's for about ten years before they passed. There's definitely a twinkle that stays and grows. ;)

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Bec
6/5/2021 09:37:41 am

You and the experience of trying to sit on a beach ball in the water nailed this. Few words with great strength...well done.

Reply
Maryann Chalmers
6/8/2021 07:54:36 pm

Oh my goodness! This is just beautiful. My heart is both touched and moved...right up into my throat. Absolutely beautiful!!!! Well done!

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    Leslie McLeod
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