A gift from my Father

bykpercival55

1.3K followers

5 years ago

Happy Memorial Weekend!

I wanted to share a quick post about lessons learned from my Father.

He is 92 although most wouldn’t guess it. His hair is still brown except for some gray at the temples. He lives alone since Mom passed 4 years ago and drives (very well I might add) does his own cooking, cleaning, laundry etc. He has turned the lawn care over to someone else...finally.

He is extremely intelligent, always had many hobbies, and as the eldest child I was fortunate enough to spend the most time with him.

When he rebuilt old cars (really old...Model A and Model T Fords) I sat on the driveway beside the toolbox. He would roll out from underneath the car on the creeper and ask for the 3/4 socket (or whatever he needed) and it was my job to find the right tool and put it in his hand...sort of like a surgical nurse for ailing autos. I was 5 or 6 at the time.

When he became interested in bonsai gardening I learned how to choose which tiny limbs needed pruning and which ones to leave untouched.

He built violins and studied the chemical makeup of the varnish and how it could affect the tone of the instrument.

Today I received the email attached below, and it’s message is so brilliant I felt compelled to share with my WA family.

It typifies the kind of messages I’ve received from him my whole life, and is probably the reason I am able to see the glass as half full no matter how bad things get.

I hope this resonates with you as it does with me. I’ve been blessed in this life, not with a lot of money but with a wealth of valuable friendships and a quest for learning that continues here.

Blessings to you all!

Steve Gouves dies a billionaire, with a fortune of $7 billion, at the age of 56 from pancreatic cancer,and here are some of his last words:

In other's eyes, my life is the essence of success, but aside from work, I have a little joy, and in the end wealth is just a fact of life to which I am accustomed.

At this moment, lying on the bed, sick and remembering all my life, I realize that all my recognition and wealth that I have is meaningless in the face of imminent death.

You can hire someone to drive a car for you, make money for you – but you can not rent someone to carry the disease for you. One can find material things, but there is one thing that can not be found when it is lost – “life”.

Treat yourself well, and cherish others. As we get older we are smarter, and we slowly realize that the watch is worth $30 or $300 – both of which show the same time. Whether we carry a purse worth $30 or $300 – the amount of money in the wallets are the same. Whether we drive a car worth $150,000, or a car worth $30,000 – the road and distance are the same, we reach the same destination. If we drink a bottle of wine worth $300 or wine worth $10 – the “stroller” will be the same. If the house we live in is 500 square feet, or 5000 square feet – the loneliness is the same.

Your true inner happiness does not come from the material things of this world. Whether you’re flying first class, or economy class – if the plane crashes, you crash with it.

So, I hope you understand that when you have family or friends or someone to talk to – this is true happiness!

Five Undeniable Facts- 1. Do not educate your children to be rich. Educate them to be happy. – So when they grow up they will know the value of things, not the price.

2. Eat your food as medicine, otherwise you will need to eat your medicine as food.

3. Whoever loves you will never leave you, even if he has 100 reasons to give up. He will always find one reason to hold on.

4. There is a big difference between being human and human being.

5. If you want to go fast – go alone! But if you want to go far – go together!

And in conclusion, The seven best doctors in the world.

1. God and His sunshine

2. Family

3. Rest

4. Exercise

5. Diet

6. Self-Confidence

7. Friends Keep them in all stages of life.

“Love the people God sent you, one day he’ll need them back.”

KyleAnn