Backdrop

Today I am grateful for a good run yesterday and the steadily increasing daylight time each week. 

My parent’s birthdays were close together. Mom’s is Feb. 20 and Dad’s was February 28. He was born in 1924 and died in 1998. Every February 28 I remember my dad. I think of him many other days too, but 22 years since he died, it’s less often than it was. His birthday is always a day that I think more deeply about his life, his impact, his death. 

Being in Iowa last weekend, and on the farm, I felt a closeness to my father and his spirit. He loved the farm life and he loved family. These provided the key backdrops of his life. He liked to read the newspaper and keep up on current events, celebrate holidays, play cards, and much more. Family and farming underpinned his values. 

He would have enjoyed this scene last Saturday. He didn't speak of Nature the way Mom did, but he spent ample time out in it and influenced by it. He would have appreciated this photo:

 A beef cow in the foreground and a backdrop of low-lying fog and frost on the trees in the hills behind.

I wanted to tell the beef cow to turn around and take a look, but she was unimpressed. 

I was the one left impressed. The one left thinking of the impressions left behind by my father's life well-lived. And considering when I might pause, turn around, and consider the backdrops of my day, my life.