Eventide

His "hee, hee, hee" laugh, the slewfooted jig he would perform enroute to a commercial break icebox raid, his "yeah boy" answer in the affirmative, the Sunday news slipping right out of his hands as he nodded off between reading Sylvia Porter and Dr. Thosteson. He would come back from the kitchen with olive loaf, souse meat and cheese rolled delicately between his long guitar fingers. The curl of hair hanging with no direction from the mostly bald head, a sign of his relaxation as he would smoke any type of meat over the livingroom fire with an extremely long fork and hand out samples - improbably getting me to try his salami slices etc. They WERE good, only because of how, when, where, and by whom they were prepared. That was one of those cozy family moments kept alive by vivid recall and purged only by a failed memory. Why then the experience at all? "Happy is the man... whose quiver is full". Daddy had the Joy of the Lord. I didn't consciously realize this over smoked sausages, I just thought he was being a good daddy. A godly man to say the least - but he was just, and good - how else was he supposed to act.Kip Powell