Memories

Yesterday I picked up a broom from the garage and strolled to the backyard where I planned to sweep up the clippings from some plants I had pruned. Suddenly I realized it was an O-Cedar product--the company where my father had worked his way up from errand boy to vice president during the 1940s and 50s. I remember Daddy taking my sister June and me for tours of the executive cubicles, and the factory filled with busy workers creating mops and brooms and polishes. I was so proud of my father and all he accomplished there and I enjoyed the attention June and I received from the various employees. The treat for the day was having lunch with Dad in the company's cafeteria. My father always chose cherry pie for dessert--his favorite. As the reverie faded, I wiped a stray tear from my cheek and continued sweeping, smiling inside at the lovely memories that such a mundane task evoked. I thanked God for Phil O'Connor and the life he made possible for me, and I thanked God for the gift of my dad--not a perfect man--but the perfect father for me.