Family is

January 25, 2013

I’ve been busy lately with a number of projects - the release of Desert Snow, trying to finish the current WIP, and let’s not forget gathering everything in preparation to file my 2012 tax return. But yesterday evening we all took time out to celebrate my mom and stepdad’s anniversary.

Looking back, the last twenty years passed in the blink of an eye. I was happy for my mother when she remarried after being a widow for so many years, but I worried, too. My stepfather is a great guy, but he’s nothing at all like my Dad. I’m constantly amazed at how my mother married two so completely different men.

Dad was a quiet man who only spoke when he had something important to say. My stepdad will sit and chat about any topic you choose. The saving grace of this is he’s very open about admitting when he doesn’t have a clue on a topic. And when he doesn’t have a clue, off to the Internet he goes to find out. He loves to learn new things and in this we are alike.

I remember my Dad through the lens of my childhood and youth, and maybe because he was “Daddy” those memories are a little rosy. I think that’s the way it should be. Every girl should be so blessed with a Daddy who pulled her around in the snow on a sled and in later years taught her how to change the oil in her car.

My stepfather I came to know as adults with only one common denominator - a love for my mother. Forging an adult kinship with him was difficult at first because we were total strangers and suddenly we were family. I didn’t know it twenty years ago because we were strangers, but he was just as determined as I was that we find a place together that did not include the word “Daddy” unless we were talking about my father.

I’ve come to know him as a kind, caring and generous man. Smart, too. His love for my mother is absolute. He doesn’t brag about it, but he spoils her every day of her life. And sometimes it’s difficult for me not to laugh at them - with love, of course. I tell my best friend some of their antics and she sums it up best - “They’re so cute together.” Yes, they certainly are.

Today I’m back to work - or rather I’m supposed to be working on year-end statistical forms - but instead, I’m pondering on something my stepdad said last evening. It’s something I want to remember in my stories and I think it sums up what we all search for.

Freddie Mercury was right when he said we all want to find somebody to love, but that’s only the beginning of it. My stepdad nailed it. No flowery speeches, no brave promises, or boastful posturing. Just a simple statement that drove straight to the bottom line. He said he’d take care of my mother, no matter what, for as long as he was able.

Just the way my Dad would have done.

KC Kendricks
website: http://www.kckendricks.com

(The picture above is titled, "To Infinity." Very fitting for family.)