At Dad’s funeral my two brothers and I decided to give our individual tributes to Dad.
There is a best selling book titled “Tuesdays with Morrie” about a dying professor sharing life philosophies with a younger student. I haven’t read the book yet but I certainly plan to now because the last few months I’ve had “Tuesdays with Jesse” and it was a dying father talking about life with his daughter. Our Tuesdays started as a goal to simply give Mom a chance to get out of the house for a little and spend time with their friends at the ReUzIt Shoppe. I drug my office work along to Dad’s thinking I could get things done while he slept on his chair or read his book. That set-up lasted for a week or two and then it became apparent that Dad wanted to talk about things and talk we did. Every Tuesday morning we had 4-5 hours together and I will treasure those moments forever. Just Tuesday a week ago Dad walked out to the kitchen table on his own and we had cereal together. We had a wonderful morning and it was my last ‘Tuesday with Jesse” in his home.
I stand here a blessed woman. My dad gave me the greatest gift a parent can give a child – he loved my mom. Dad thought he had found himself a beautiful woman who filled his list of requirements for a wife. As a child growing up I knew my Dad loved my mom and naturally assumed that all Daddy’s love the Mommy’s. As an adult I know that that is something to be treasured and have thanked the Lord many times for blessing me so richly. Even through Dad’s illness his number one goal was to be a good patient for Mom. His greatest concern was always Mom and how she was doing through this. Even in the last few days when he was too weak to talk Mom would lean in to talk to him and Dad would pucker up for a kiss. My Dad loved my Mom.
And he loved my Jay. He thought I did well for myself. He always liked talking with Jay and always took an interest in the business. Dad liked hearing about what was happening at the butcher shop. Another rare day out a few weeks ago for Dad was a visit to the butcher shop one last time.
On our Tuesday mornings I had a chance to ask Dad lots of questions and learned more and more about the things that were always important to Dad. I’ll share a quick – an extremely condensed list:
1. Dad was not a wealthy man but he lived within his means. I felt very rich the 9 summers our family vacationed in Canada. We learned to swim in the St. Lawrence Seaway; he taught us to fish and fish we did. Every little itty bitty perch and sunny we caught Dad would clean up and Mom would fry for supper. To this day I Love the water and my favorite food is fish. The first year after Jay & I were married we took another trip to Canada with mom & Dad where Jay managed to catch a good sized large-mouth bass that none of the locals had been able to catch. Jay & I decided we wanted to have it mounted. Wrapping that fish up to bring home instead of cleaning it and frying it I think pained Dad just a little. Dad and I shared a love for sardines. He enjoyed his love for oysters though with his brothers. I ate them as a child until one day I erroneously cut one in half.
We also took camping trips and one year we traveled in a truck camper to the New England States. Dad had a general idea of where we were headed but each evening he’d lay the out map and we’d plan the next day’s road trip. I have my father to thank for knowing how to read maps, road signs and finding your way from point A to Point B.
2. Dad’s hands were his greatest asset. He could fix anything. A repairman never graced our home. I remember newspaper laid out and pieces of whatever he was working on neatly placed around. And this is what he did during his time at the ReUzIt Shoppe – he had a worktable where he fixed electronics that came in. He so enjoyed his time at the ReUzIt shop where he and mom volunteered. We were thrilled to share a rare day out for Dad with his ReUzIt shop friends for his 80th birthday. And if any of you are here today from the ReUsIt Shoppe let me publicly say Thank You for loving up on my Dad. And thank you in advance for the care you continue to express to Mom. I’m so grateful for the circle of good friends they’ve made with you.
3. Dad enjoyed reading. In the race between the turtle and the rabbit – Dad was indeed the turtle. It was slow but steady but this dear man read 8 books in the past 4 months – A neighbor had given him three books and he so enjoyed them and was sharing them with me. He was thrilled to learn that there were indeed 8 books in the series and I had them all on my own book shelf.
4. And last but, certainly not least, I’m sure you all have had the blessing of enjoying Dad’s dry sense of humor. When certain jokes come along in my own family we have an ‘eye rolling response’ and say ‘That’s a Gpa Fisher kind of joke’. We Fisher kids had the best of both worlds in laughter. We have to Stoltzfus/Smucker side of loud, laugh till the tears roll down laughter and then we have the Fisher style of chin in your neck, teeth together – tee hee hee.
So I’ve had a wonderful life that was influenced greatly by my father. His greatest gift was loving my mother. His greatest influence was his commitment to God and his church. I am proud of my Amish heritage and what that brought to the shaping of my life. And I’m grateful for my father’s own soul searching journey that found him one evening at Lloyd Eby’s farm asking questions about God, faith, a personal walk and joining Stumptown Mennonite Church. John Eby – I have YOUR father to thank for his guidance in MY father’s life. Those moments of faith sharing was the pivotal point in a journey and walk with God that Dad passed along to his children, grandchildren and great – grandchildren. My prayer is that we continue that faith walk and journey through as well as Dad did.
And so now this I pray
Dear Lord, thank you for blessing my life so richly with a Godly father. I know you have already received Dad into your care and have whispered to him ‘well done, thou good and faithful servant.’
