Alone, at the Bottom of the World (part 27)

In-Roads

We were told that a Greyhound heading south would depart in an hour, and I could just about make it if we hurried. My father wasn't too excited about hurrying, as this was going to cut our visit short. Since he had left us, it hadn't been all that easy to arrange visits or stay for very long. And he didn't want to cut this one short.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7933170@N03/1188270323/

The thing in my favor was that he had tried to talk me into going back to college - and I was going. His own effort had failed, but the result was going to be the same. That Peggy had succeeded within a 10 minute conversation remained unexplained. But I was going. And he couldn't very well argue about the timing.

He sat and watched as I threw things haphazardly into my bag. "I don't understand why you didn't want to go back to school when I suggested it."

"I don't know, dad. There was just something in my conversation with Peggy that made that penny drop. I'm sorry."

The probable truth is that relationships can go through damage, and the 'in-roads' that existed before might crumble a bit. Or a lot. My father really wanted nothing to have changed, in spite of the thing that caused the change (the thing he chose). He wanted the 'in-roads' back.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sheepies/4563580131/

I was thinking that the best way to keep a solid kinship is not to lose it in the first place. I am sure he knew this, and it probably tormented him when he thought very long about it. But there was a fortuitous outcome! - his children all learned a simple Lesson from his loss of them - 

To hold out against the fascinations that seem exciting, but take from us that which is dear. 

"...for we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are unseen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are unseen are eternal."

                                                                                                                -2 Corinthians 4:18 

photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7933170@N03/1188270323/">photographer padawan *(xava du)</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/">cc</a>

photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sheepies/4563580131/">Andreas-photography</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/">cc</a>