the best day

we were racing the rain - there was wood to be cut, delivered and stacked and kitchens to clean and trees to assemble. 

we started early, before the temps began dropping.  he cut the wood and i cleaned the kitchen - although he tried to swap jobs with me.  we took breaks every now and then for listening to my father reminisce, worry about the coming cold because he just can't get warm enough anymore, and the icy weather would keep him indoors.  he laughed and was glad of the company, and he offered us deer stew because he knew i was planning to make vegetable soup and he saw no reason we should spend money on meat when he had a freezer full of it.

mom slept the whole time we were there, and i took extra care in cleaning so she would be suprised when she woke.  a fresh pot of coffee.  the counters all scrubbed as white as she used to keep them.  her laptop in its customary place at the end of the table, a coaster for her coffee mug.  floors swept and mopped.  no vacuuming lest she should wake.

aaron and his friend stewart helped jim split the wood - small pieces so they wouldn't be too heavy for dad to lift.  they stacked it on the porch and filled the wagon dad keeps by the wood heater so he wouldn't have to go outside. 

and then we had to go - another delivery to make to a woman i call mama - the mother of my friend and coworker, roberta.  we pulled into the yard unannounced, and laughed at roberta trying to hide the scarf she had wrapped around her head.  mama thought she was going to help unload the truck - i think NOT - and by the time she found her gloves and came back out, her porch was stacked with small pieces, like dad's.  small enough for an elderly lady to handle with no problem.  she said, is this your christmas present to me?  and we laughed and said - Yes!

this isn't bragging or calling deeds into focus because in my opinion, it's no more than should be done, and not enough, by a long shot.  it's about feeling good about something, stepping outside of self and loving it, and i want to do it some more! - but most of all, it's about the smile on my dad's face and the twinkle in roberta's mama's eyes.  it doesn't get much better than that.