They live on

As the second game of the Florida/LSU College World Series came to an end, I could just hear our daddy.

"I love it!."

If there's one thing that we knew about Earl Huffingham - "He was a Gator."  I think he went to his first game at what was then known as Florida Field when I was a toddler.  My siblings and I have often remarked that our blood is orange and blue.  All four of us continued to follow the Gators throughout adulthood.

When I lived away I would call home and talk with daddy about whatever sport the Gators happened to be playing.  In 1981, my parents visited our home in Louisville, Kentucky the weekend of the Heisman Trophy presentation.  Becca was 10 and enamored with Hershel Walker.  She just knew he was going to get the Heisman.  When he didn't, daddy assured her that Hershel would win next year.

By the next year, however, my children and I lived in Jacksonville and she had become a Florida Gator.  She barely knew any other college team. That has never left her.  And it has been a no-brainer but that her children are major Gators.

So the love for the Florida Gators lives on. Tonight I will watch the baseball game.  I will be happy that I know some of the nomenclatures and that I've learned a little during the playoffs.  I had not the first clue what a walk-off was.  And when that happened, it was necessary for me to google those words.  Truthfully it makes me too nervous to watch the game in it's entirety unless we are winning by a huge margin. I am guilty of changing the station often.

And if tonight when the game ends and LSU has won - we will all still sing "We are the boys from old Florida," especially the line "in all kinds of weather, we'll all stick together".

So that's one way our daddy lives on in me - and my children.

And my mother???

My parents came to live with me in 2005.  Mother was 78.  She could do remarkable things in my yard  (as seen in this 2012 photo).

And if I would have allowed it she would have mowed the grass using the lawnmower like a walker.

I will never be the same kind of gardener she was.  However, I can get dirty and perspire (remember ladies don't sweat) to such an extent that my clothes are like they have been in a pool of water.  I do mow my yard every 10 days or so.  And I might be like the cartoon I saw recently --

The man was holding a sign that said, "I'm not homeless.  I just need money because my wife keeps buying plants."  If I don't go to my neighborhood garden store every couple of days I'm sure the cashiers may wonder if I have chosen another store.

I was telling my brother-in-law, Robert,  about my yard which is pictured and he said, 

"Like your mama."

And then he said, "That was a compliment."

And I thought I heard daddy

"I love it."

My parents are gone.  And yet - they live on - in me!

May you have enough sunshine in your life

To make you appreciate the shadows

Happy Father's Day

Today is Father's Day.  

Like so many (and especially my siblings) I think I had the very best when it comes to fathers.

The second son of Ted and Lonnie, Earl Huffingham loved God, Golf, the Gators, and Iva Louise Nesmith.  They were married for 67 years before his passing in 2009 and in my unsubstantiated imagination, I like to think that he was waiting for her when she went to Heaven almost a year ago.

In fact, my daughter's words to her: "It's time for you to be with granddaddy" and our thinking that daddy met her at Heaven's gates with: "What took you so long?" reflect the way that all who knew our daddy knew how much he loved our mother.

I've heard that's the best thing a man can do for his children - love their mother - and our daddy was quite successful.

So much so that I went into marriage "expecting that".

That didn't happen for me.

But my children got something - if not better - at least something that helped them as they were growing up.

When we ended up in Jacksonville in 1982 I was exhausted.  Fortunately, we were welcomed by my family which included some good male role models, daddy, of course, being the most prominent. For the next 13 years, I raised my children with their help,  And even after Tray turned 18 and was off to college, those men remained their role models.  Many of them are still in the three Parker children's lives.

There were other men too - coaches, teachers, youth pastors, the fathers of some of their friends, and some of the friends I made along the way.

And I am not going to discount the fact that they are the children of  Ray Parker.  Those children would not be who they are without him.  Their lives would not be what they are today without him.

And so, in spite of the pain and disappointment that I experienced, I am grateful.

I didn't get to give my children the daddy that I had.  But because of the daddy they had - their lives are truly blessed.

They are not perfect although - I mean really "Have you met my children?"

And the way I see it - the fathers in my little family, Dale, Wally, and Tray, are doing just what my daddy did - Dale loves Becca, Wally loves Renee, and Tray loves Kristen. 

My grandchildren are experiencing what I did and I am truly grateful.

May you have enough sunshine in your life

To make you appreciate the shadows