The most valuable lessons of the road…..I didn’t realize until after he was gone. I didn’t realize what deep friendships my seemingly independent father invested in. And I did not know how much he pursued things that he loved doing because they filled his tank and gave him energy for the next season. The following story is an excerpt from my book, “Harbor Seven.” As I re-read it myself, I am reminded to pursue some of the relationships that are life giving to me, those friendships that just make life more fun.
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The value of life-giving friendships.
As a boy, I deeply admired my father. Though he is not here today, I still admire him—but my perception of him has changed. When I was young, he seemed to be the epitome of an independent, self-made man who rarely, if ever, needed the help of other people. Some of what I believed about him was true because on the last day of his life when he needed the help of others the most, he still tried to do it alone. That refusal to get help and insistence that everything was all right may have cost him his life. However, what I didn’t fully realize at the time was that he was actually a man of deep connections. He was closely connected to God, intimately involved in his family and had many close friends with whom he shared his life. These connections were the key source of his strength.
Remember that long, slow walk my dad took around the cornfield, shortly after the devastating hailstorm? Well, he didn’t make that journey alone. His best friend, George Osborne, accompanied him for a portion of that walk. George and my dad had a deep influence on each other. Check out a letter he wrote to me a couple years ago, 20 years after my dad’s death:
“My relationship with Lloyd could best be described as the ability in each of us to communicate with the other without talking. It was eerie. He gave me the most priceless gift one man can bestow on another: unconditional friendship. He let me see and share inside all the warts he thought he had, none of which I could see. He saw my inconsistencies as justifiable, he acted over my reluctances, he took me into places and relationships that I preferred not to go or do, he made me realize that often, if not always, a sense of humor and joy exceed wisdom and intellect. He was a real soul-mate.”
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Through this week, “Harbor Seven” will be available for the introductory price of $10. The price will go up on August. 19th.
