Morning Thanks -- Doing Dishes

Okay, maybe I was not thrilled. It's my job to clean up after Sunday dinner,
but just because I know what I have to do doesn't mean I relish doing it. My
wife cooked it all, so she ran off to play with her grandson. I do the clean-up.

I was scraping dishes all by my lonesome, when I realized my father-in-law,
who's 97, was standing close by. Age has troubled his physical movements. He
was at the controls of a walker. He needs a wheelchair, but understands that he
will be sentenced to one all too soon. There he was, a couple arm reaches away,
dreaming he could help.

He used to do everything for his invalid wife. When she died, he helped with
dishes here, carting dirty glasses and dishes from table to kitchen counter. He
used to do what he could. No more. There's very little he can.

There he stood, in silence, tap water running in the sink in front of me when it
dawned on me how much he would have loved being able to do what I was
doing, how much he would have wanted walk down our stairs and get down
on the floor with his daughter and great-grandson. All of a sudden I knew he
would have done anything to help--done dishes alone, spent all afternoon in
the kitchen, if he could somehow make himself useful.

With him beside me, that walker between us, in my soapy hands just for a
moment those dirty dishes turned into a blessing. And that's why this morning I'm thankful for washing dinner dishes, even humbled by so much I can do.

___________________

Barbara's dad died on Wednesday, August 14, 2019. at Prairie Ridge Home, Orange City, Iowa, having outlived all his nine siblings. He was 100 years old.