Repairing the Gates
Every Spring, my parents travel from Oregon to Texas for a visit. This has become such a tradition for our family – we block the calendars a year in advance to protect those dates. When they finally arrive, we celebrate the victories, tell wonderful stories and laugh long into the night. Every year their visit leaves something behind. Something beyond precious.
This year, my father repaired our gates.
We worked for hours he and I – much of the time in contented silence. To be there – working together was enough. There are moments I captured in my mind – like snapshots. I will never forget them. Watching him work with his baseball cap tilted off to one side, thinking how he has always been able to build anything and fix everything. Seeing his once young hands, older now. Knowing that it causes him pain to stand for a long time on knees that are weary. Drinking strong coffee and wanting to hold onto the moment forever.
Gates are a mighty metaphor, representing what we let in and what we keep out of our lives. Gates protect what we care about. They are the boundaries we set and the invitations we make. As we worked, I thought about the “virtual” gates in my life. I wondered about the condition of those. What am I allowing? What am I blocking? What have I locked out, and what have I locked in?
Winter has come. Each time I swing those gates open, I see my father’s face. And each time I close them I am grateful again. As a child, he was a larger-than-life-hero. Some things don’t change, even when you are all grown up with gates of your own.
December 1st, 2009 at 7:14 am
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December 1st, 2009 at 7:28 am
What a beautiful story; both a tribute to a great man and a life lesson from which we all can benefit. This is an article worth printing out, reading and re-reading again and again and again.
Thank you, Dondi, for sharing yourself in the way that you always do; so authentically and filled with wisdom.
December 1st, 2009 at 8:07 am
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December 1st, 2009 at 6:31 pm
Great beautiful story in this inspiring post. I feel an urge to study gates some more…Bless you!!!
December 1st, 2009 at 8:22 pm
What a beautiful story. I love the idea of looking at our lives to see what we are letting in and what we are blocking. An exercise for my journal for sure!
It is interesting to note that the Bible verse in Proverbs 23:7 that says “As a man thinks, so is he” – the word “thinks” in the Hebrew actually means gatekeeper!
December 2nd, 2009 at 4:15 am
What really impacted me the most was:
“I thought about the “virtual” gates in my life. I wondered about the condition of those. What am I allowing? What am I blocking? What have I locked out, and what have I locked in?”
That is definitely material for my morning mediation. This year as I move into and through a 9 year in numerology – yes – I do believe in this energetic frequency, having done charts for people for more than 50 years now – I feel the shifts – and these are common questions one asks oneself as she/he moves to the next cycle.
Thank you for sharing such a thought-provoking concept. With the added challenges of this past year (personal loss) it accentuates the necessity for that alone time to reflect, release, and re-create. To move from victimhood to empowerment! Wow, it felt great just to write that!
Hugs
Marilyn
December 3rd, 2009 at 11:19 am
Dondi, this is a wonderful story and shows the deep love respect and ever so fond memories you have for your father…Whenever I think of gates, I think of wrought iron gates and the story behind a Course in Miracles. The lady that heard the voice that wrote A Course In Miracles…was advised through a vision of wrought iron gates with a plaque that read out the name for the Publishing company for ACIM …”The Foundation for Inner Peace”
I find this appropriate in your publishing and clear love and peace that your message conveys…as do you.
Colin
December 3rd, 2009 at 11:38 am
Dondi,
I hope you share this piece with your father as I can imagine it will warm his heart knowing that little moment meant as much to his daughter as it did to him. Too often, we get caught up in the rush of life, that we forget to appreciate what all those daily struggles have earned us. It’s a wonderful gift to have that a simple gesture like opening a gate can remind you of something dear to your heart.
In as much as it’s about what we allow through our gates, it’s also about what we take the time to take stock of and hold dear to our hearts that reminds us of what we’ve reaped in our lives.
Thanks for sharing this lovely story, Dondi. I’m sure there are many people now smiling after reading your beautiful post.
Tanveer.
December 26th, 2009 at 7:55 pm
Your daddy is so lucky to be able to spend such precious time with you and for you to be able to put your deepest feelings into such beautiful words. I miss having my father, as I get older and would enjoy those precious moments, also. You both are blessed to have each other.