Siding Saturday

I have always been a daddy's girl. I loved how my dad took me everywhere with him. I remember walking hand in hand well into my early teens. To me, my dad has always been my hero. My dad has always been a man of pride. In everything that he builds and restores he makes sure every line is just so and every tint is just right. His life time project has been the house they started to build when I was born. When ever the money becomes available he pics another part of the house to work on. There have been lots of times that we have offered our help but he always shrugs his shoulders, smiles and says, "I got it!" Lately, his shoulders have been hurting, he complains more about the ache in his hands and he has been napping lots. Every time he goes in for his blood work his counts are always creeping back up. Two weeks ago I told him that Blaine and I would come out and help side the house for him. I joked about how we would do all the work and he could take a nap. We all knew that something like that would just never happen. Today as we sat around the table with my mom waiting for dad to get back from the dump she broke into tears. Apparently dads counts are up again. It seems that they just keep creeping up since he had his prostate removed. Mom seemed to go off on a tangent about a huge fathers day celebration with the whole family and the neighbors coming out. It startled me how upset my mom got. Something must really be wrong this time, I thought. For a brief moment I let my fears consume me and wondered what life would be like with out my daddy. Who would call me his special treasure? Who would give me advice that I knew I had to take? Who would give me a gentle punch when I teased him?... The fear was far to great and I buried the thought before it got way ahead of me. Before to long Blaine and I were all set up and began siding. I enjoyed working along side Blaine, laughing and making fun of each other. It wasn't like we had joked about earlier but it was shocking to see how my dad let Blaine and I do everything. Every once and awhile he would look up at us, shake his head and admit that we sure saved him a lot of time by doing this for him. It must have been hard to accept our help, I was glad to give it though. I was glad to see him rest for a change. I was glad to show him how he taught me to take pride in my work.