Blue & Green & Dad
I stroll out toward the back of the mowed yard and stare out across the field. The late afternoon sunshine highlights the bright blue sky and vivid greens of the grass and trees. The colours remind me of a rhyme I’d heard years before. I don’t know where it comes from but it is meant to be a someone's guideline for the proper pairing of clothing. It goes like this: “Blue and green, should never be seen, except for in the washing machine”. However, I can’t help but think another line should be added like: “But when outside, we can’t deny, that blue and green catches the eye”.
Anyhow, as I stare out across the field, enjoying the sounds of birds, feeling the wind blowing through my hair and the sunshine on my face, I am suddenly reminded of my father. He enjoyed
being outside and one of his favourite places was a certain campground that we camped at every summer. He liked to go on hikes or stand outside listening and feeling nature.
On one of our last camping trips as a family, I met my future husband, who happened to live up the road from my dad's favourite camp. During our dating years I spent the fall and winter away at college. In the spring I moved back to my future husband's home and worked in the area my dad enjoyed so much.
My parents visited often. However, sometimes my father, who was semi-retired, would at times make the 90 minute drive by himself. We’d sit outside and go for little walks around the yard (his health was failing) but occasionally he’d feel well enough to walk a little further so we’d head up the dirt road. He even told me once how much he “loved it out there.”
My father passed away 24 years ago. I have a few photographs and other mementoes, even an old sweatshirt that once belonged to him. It’s blue with green stripes on the shoulders. My husband and I still live in the same house, and sometimes when I am outside I am reminded of how much my father enjoyed the area. And when I am reminded, I know it’s because he is looking down at me from the blue sky above as I stroll along in fields of green.