A Comforting Silence

Showing love using HIS own ways, and now, as his children are grown, they finally understood, how much their father loved them, translated…

Last year, my father was diagnosed as having a tumor on his tonsils, thankfully, they’d found it early, and he’d gotten it removed surgically just in time, and after six months’ observations, he’d healed up completely now.  As my father went into treatment, it was Father’s Day, and, we’d believed that he could eat, so, we’d, made a reservation at the restaurant as we usually had.

Seeing how it was, hard for my father to talk, we’d not tried to get him to start conversing, this time, we’d no longer, shifted the topic of discussions onto dad intentionally as we’d done in the pasts; we’d worked hard, done things separately usually, and, naturally, as we got together, we’d had, a ton to talk about, and even after the waiter took our plates away, we’re not quite done catching up yet.  We’d continued ranting on incessantly for a long time, then, turned our heads, and found, that my father, who’d pretended he wasn’t listening, looking around, being silent, was opening his ears wide up to our conversations.

From before when we were younger, we’d not known better, we’d always felt our father carried this serious mannerism, he truly, scared us, and he’d gone to work early, turned home late, he seemed to, not have anything to do with our lives, and had never gone to any of the parent-teacher conferences that we had, he didn’t know when the competitions were either.  This misunderstanding I’d had about dad, had never been resolved even into my adulthood years, until once when I’d gone home, and, he’d, given me a new quilt to sleep in, that was when I’d shockingly found, that maybe, I was, mistaken.  I’d worked away from home, and only visited on occasions, and it didn’t feel right, having my family prepare a brand new quilt for me, and once as we sat around the supper tables, I’d stated how cold it was for me to sleep in the quilt I had, my father went to the quilt shop, and bought a brand new quilt for me.  On that very night, I’d, slept, very well, warm, on the inside AND out.

Thinking on it, my father would always inquire us about “did you have the problems at work resolved from last time?”, “Are the coworkers still giving you a difficult time?”, and the like, we’d often drawn a blank, and it’d taken us very long, to finally recalled, how we’d, poured our hearts out the last time we were home.  It was originally, just us, venting, we’d not expected anybody to stand up for us, but, my silent father heard it all, and, as he’d not heard any further developments, he’d, inquired on it.

Ahhhhhhhhh, so that’s it then, my father isn’t really, silent after all.  Thinking to here, I’d felt, how foolish we were toward our father.  My father had never been adept with his words, sometimes, the jokes he’d told, weren’t even that funny at all, he’s probably, the least funny guy I’d known, but, we’d felt, that he might feel left out by the rest of us, and so, we’d, made the occasions for him, to be in the spotlight.

That supper, I’d, realized, was one he was, most comfortable in, with the fitted reason to not talk, he’d, listened to us talked.  Comparing to my friend’s father who’s active and posted his photos on Facebook a lot, this sort of a father, we’d loved even more.  My father kept us in mind all the time, using his own ways that worked for him well.

So, this father loved his children, it’s just, that he’d not been, articulate enough to say it to his children, but, he’d, shown them the love, by providing them with what they’d needed in life, and that, is how love is shown by action, from a father, to his own young!