Predictability has a way of keeping us grounded, focused on goals, and reassured that everything will be alright. Each day, I hear accounts of some tragic event resulting from someone who has lost his way or I look around and see beautiful girls gone sour due to lack of a structured life, lack of a positive role model, or adequate father figure, something I'll never know because for the first ten years of my life, my father was there in mind and spirit, despite the fact that he worked two jobs six days a week. The only way we could see him during the week was to wait up past midnight until he returned home from his second job. Once he returned home, he sat three of us on his lap somehow, and sang us nursery rhymes until we were groggy enough to say, goodnight.
I suppose you could say my father was our super hero in the sense that he was our teacher, protector, family provider, gardener, handyman, cook and entertainer. He wasn't stern, but he was a strict disciplinarian. If we disobeyed his directives, did a sloppy job, acted lazy or irresponsible or told a lie, we knew what to expect.
I remember one time I thought I'd get a terrible whipping but only after I had been thoroughly chastised. I had carelessly kicked the water faucet while trying to kill a bee. Suddenly, water spewed everywhere and it was clear, I had disconnected something. I felt as though I had destroyed the universe! I felt flushed and on the brink of tears. I ran to my mother but was told to awaken my father from his nap and explain my carelessness.
When he awoke, he looked at me in disbelief. Then he walked outside, proceeded to shut off the water source, asked me to get his car keys, and drove to the hardware store. In less than an hour, the rusted pipe had been replaced and everything looked as good as new. My father turned on the water source, gave me a glance, and returned to his afternoon nap. I knew his off day was a time to recharge, and I had expected the worst. That's the one time I remember my father being unpredictable, but he taught me a valuable lesson without saying a word: nothing is impossible.
Unpredictability is wonderful at times, but there's something nice and reassuring about predictability, something so many of today's young people do not have. My life was not better than what I see today, but it was more predictable. I knew what to expect. I cherish the 10 years my parents were together with our family. It was a magical time before the big "D" which happened b/c he wasn't perfect; yet, he was perfect to me.
