Eulogy for Father :: Eulogies Eulogy

Eulogy for Father "I have been having a lot of feelings since my father's illness and death and we will see how long the feelings will allow me to speak. By far the biggest feeling I have had has been gratefulness. Gratefulness to have stood in the shade of my father's tree. Because to me my father was like a tree in many ways. An oak tree. An oak who's taproot was anchored in faith and in the Divine, and with branches and leaves that act as a home for those around. I stood in that home and for that I am so grateful. It's an experience that I wish I could condense into a couple of words and then tell you. People I talk to say sometimes "I guess you can't expect your family to be like the Brady Bunch." I don't have the heart to tell them that I wouldn't ever trade my family for that, nor for anyone. It was an incredible experience to grow up in my family with my mother and father. My father’s tree was stable, you couldn't push it, and it was strong. It was a place for everyone around him to glow. He wanted others to glow. He enjoyed and reveled in the glow of everyone around him...not only his own. It is a beautiful thing for a man to be able to do that. I honor him for that. And boy, do I feel a little dwarfed by comparison. A couple of weeks ago I told him, "Dad, you have always done things so deliberately and calmly you have been a great role model for me. I just feel so overwhelmed by trying to follow in your footsteps." He looked at me and motioned with his hand as if throwing a ball at me and said, "Oh you're all right." Somehow that "oh you're all right" was the biggest blessing. He had told me many times that he loved me, that he was proud of what I did, but this sunk deeply into me and I felt it as a blessing from him like I had never received before. All the times my father told me of his love for me, or how he was proud of what I was doing or what ever, were still with me but this simple phrase moved me in a unique way. I think I can speak for all of my siblings when I say that we always knew within our family that we were loved.