Recently I overheard a Father and daughter in their last moments together at the airport. They had announced the departure.
Standing near the security gate, they hugged and the Father said, 'I love you, and I wish you enough.'
The daughter replied, 'Dad, our life together has been more than enough. Your love is all I ever needed. I wish you enough, too, Dad.'
They kissed and the daughter left. The Father walked over to the window where I was seated. Standing there I could see he wanted and needed to cry. I tried not to intrude on his privacy, but he welcomed me in by asking, 'Did you ever say good-bye to someone knowing it would be forever?'
'Yes, I have,' I replied. 'Forgive me for asking, but why is this a forever good-bye?'.
'I am old, and she lives so far away. I have challenges ahead and the reality is - the next trip back will be for my funeral,' he said.
'When you were saying good-bye, I heard you say, 'I wish you enough.' May I ask what that means?'
He began to smile. 'That's a wish that has been handed down from other generations. My parents used to say it to everyone.' He paused a moment and looked up as if trying to remember it in detail, and he smiled even more. 'When we said, 'I wish you enough,' we were wanting the other person to have a life filled with just enough good things to sustain them.' Then turning toward me, he shared the following as if he were reciting it from memory.
I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright no matter how gray the day may appear.
I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun even more.
I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive and everlasting.
I wish you enough pain so that even the smallest of joys in life may appear bigger.
I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting.
I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.
I wish you enough hellos to get you through the final good- bye.
He then began to cry and walked away.
They say it takes a minute to find a special person, an hour to
appreciate them, a day to love them; but then an entire life to forget them.
Standing near the security gate, they hugged and the Father said, 'I love you, and I wish you enough.'
The daughter replied, 'Dad, our life together has been more than enough. Your love is all I ever needed. I wish you enough, too, Dad.'
They kissed and the daughter left. The Father walked over to the window where I was seated. Standing there I could see he wanted and needed to cry. I tried not to intrude on his privacy, but he welcomed me in by asking, 'Did you ever say good-bye to someone knowing it would be forever?'
'Yes, I have,' I replied. 'Forgive me for asking, but why is this a forever good-bye?'.
'I am old, and she lives so far away. I have challenges ahead and the reality is - the next trip back will be for my funeral,' he said.
'When you were saying good-bye, I heard you say, 'I wish you enough.' May I ask what that means?'
He began to smile. 'That's a wish that has been handed down from other generations. My parents used to say it to everyone.' He paused a moment and looked up as if trying to remember it in detail, and he smiled even more. 'When we said, 'I wish you enough,' we were wanting the other person to have a life filled with just enough good things to sustain them.' Then turning toward me, he shared the following as if he were reciting it from memory.
I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright no matter how gray the day may appear.
I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun even more.
I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive and everlasting.
I wish you enough pain so that even the smallest of joys in life may appear bigger.
I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting.
I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.
I wish you enough hellos to get you through the final good- bye.
He then began to cry and walked away.
They say it takes a minute to find a special person, an hour to
appreciate them, a day to love them; but then an entire life to forget them.
Diane and Charlie, I want to add that Karissa's beloved ex-husband Roy L. Mock died on November 21, 2008 of prostate cancer. Karissa and Roy had a daughter named Rebecca, who also was taken away from them by the Virginia Child Protective Service for something that never happened. They were doing their best to complete their service plan, and then all of a sudden they moved to terminate their rights.
Rebecca ended up with a family named Holden. Years later, Rebecca would write to Karissa; but then after awhile, she cut off all communications between them. Karissa pleaded with her to contact her father, but she always said, "I'm not ready." Karissa then said to her "One day, it will be too late to be ready because either your father or your mother will have died, and then you will be left wondering if you could have ever reconciled with your father or mother who just died."
Well my grown children, I can confidently say that I never lost touch with my parents. I always told my mother and father that I loved them. Mom died knowing that I indeed loved her to the end. I sent my dad a card telling him he was in my thoughts and prayers, and that I loved him to the end. He died knowing that I loved him. Some people break all ties to their parents and then regret never telling them that they really loved them, because they were not ready to tell them that; and when they died, they wished that they would have made time to tell them that they loved them.
Don't say that you're not ready yet, or wait until I'm in the mental hospital or in the morgue to tell me that you love me. Send me an email or an e-card telling me that you are thinking of me or that you love me.
As Gordon Lightfoot once sang in his song "Race Among the Ruins:"
If you plan to face tomorrow, do it soon.
Charlie, you know that I love you and want you to do well in school. You have made me very proud of you. I always told Carol when I was still with her that I didn't have to worry about you, but that it was Diane that I was worried about.
Diane, you are the one who has been lied to about me, and it has been convenient for you to believe these lies because it kept your caretakers close to you. As long as you believed the Richs and your real mother, you knew that you would have their love. Your problem is submitting to rules that you don't necessarily like. I have to live with rules that I don't like, but I do them to the best of my ability. I got demerits when I was at Florida College. It was a way to get me to straighten up and fly right. You always have to answer to someone, whether at work or at home. We all have to answer to God in the end for how we lived our life. In the end, it will all come down to whether or not we are still in the Lamb's Book of Life.
Diane, you are being told that I am a very evil person and that it would be best to stay away from me. Why then did Charlie come to visit me? Why can't you just come up to where I am at, and Karissa and I can sit down with you and tell you the real truth.
I am too old for this and one day may die just like Roy L. Mock. His daughter Rebecca put off reconciling with her father until she could no longer reconcile with him. He is now dead, and she will have to bear the burden of wondering if he ever loved her. She will no longer be able to tell him that she loved him.
Is this what you want for me? Am I dead in your sight? By the very reason that I am writing this blog to you is proof enough that I am still alive and that I still love you and want you to know the real truth. I worry about you both each and every day of my life. I don't know if I will still have a job with Guardian Security or not.
Again,
If you plan to face tomorrow, do it soon.
I don't know if I will end up in a mental hospital or not. I've seen so many of my relatives like Bonnie Hughes and Chris' stepson Roger end up in the mental hospital for one reason or another. I've met others who have been in the mental hospital and have walked out wondering myself just how close I was to being a patient there. I don't want to be a basket case.
Charlie, you have your head on straight; and I want you to reach for the stars, but keep one foot on the ground so you don't lose touch with reality.
Diane, people have told you what to believe about me until you have become a basket case - and you don't know what else to do but to believe them. Your mother has drilled it into your head until you believed in it so that your mother would not be upset with you.
Your grandfather is turning in his grave right now because you weren't allowed to go to Ripley, TN or to Batavia to pay your last respects to your Grandpa Littlejohn. At least Richard and Shirley were kind enough to bring you down to Ripley to see Grandma Littlejohn one last time, and to help comfort me in my sorrows. They were also good about bringing Charlie down to see Grandpa one more time before he died.
Charlie, it did my heart good to know that you are going to college, and I believe that you will do well. I would ask that you forward this blog to Diane and have her read it; because we really don't know when it will be the last time that we can talk, write, send emails, or send e-cards. Diane needs to seek the prayers of the church and the strength to come to me and learn the real truth. She will be guided by God in finding the real truth. Truth never changes, but humans change the lies they tell and are never consistant. Be certain that I love you both and wish nothing but the best in life for you.
Remember,
They say it takes a minute to find a special person, an hour to appreciate them, a day to love them; but then an entire life to forget them.
And as Paul McCartney wrote in the last part of his 3-part song, so I repeat this to you.
And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.
In other words, you get out of love only what you put into it. TAKE TIME TO LOVE..... To Diane and Charlie, I WISH YOU ENOUGH...so that one day you will come home to me and love me as your real father, so that I can tell you just how much I love you and have never forgotten you.
If you plan to face tomorrow, do it soon - before it is too late for us all.
Love, Dad
