I was privileged to have a wonderful father and I loved him unconditionally. My cousin visited recently and we talked about our parents and we agreed that our childhood memories are treasures and we’ll take those wonderful memories to our graves. My dad passed away 11 years ago and there isn’t a day that goes past that I don’t think of him and smile.
We talked about their “quirks” and it brought back the memory of my father not being able to wear a watch. Well, that’s probably not quite true, because he could wear a watch, it’s just that they stopped working the minute he put them on his arm. Of course, they were the wind up type of watch, and it could never be explained by any jeweler that he told his tale of woe too. When battery operated watches were “discovered”, he thought he’d found a solution to his problem, purchased one and lo and behold it stopped within hours. He gave up and never put one on his arm again. He bought me 2 watches, one when I was 8 and one when I turned 18. I don’t have the first one he gave me, but I still have my 18th birthday present watch.
Dad’s weak heart gave up on him when he was 69 and after a 2 day struggle in ICU, he passed away. We were all with him and felt gutted. Exhausted, my husband took my mother and I home and we sank into the lounge chairs feeling empty inside.
My mother in law had given us an Anniversary Clock on our wedding day and I looked at the clock and was speechless. The clock was stopped on the exact time of dad’s passing. My husband tried to convince my mother and I that it was a coincidence ……..the battery must have run out……..he would fix it right away!
I was not convinced that he could, but watched in amazement as he put every new battery (and old) that he could find in that clock to try and get it going again. It has a pendulum, which is only for looks as it’s driven by the battery, but he pushed that pendulum around and around as if the motion would make the clock tick again. It didn’t. Nothing has moved that clock to this day, except for the day of my father’s funeral. When we arrived home we saw that it had moved forward to the time of my dad’s service and it’s still on that time today.
I did try one other time to put a new battery in the clock, wondering if it was just a “coincidence” and I guess in part to curb my curiosity about spiritual messages. It didn’t work. I also tried swinging the pendulum but it only “swung” while I pushed it and the minute I stopped pushing, the pendulum stopped swinging.
I still have the clock sitting on my bar (of all places, but I’m sure dad would get a kick out of its position) and I wouldn’t part with it. We have moved homes 4 times in those 11 years and I carefully pack the clock so it won’t get damaged.
Is there more to this life than we know? Is there more to this life than we believe or do we believe and trust that this is the first stage of our existence and there is more to come? Is there an explanation for this?
My father didn’t believe there was more to this life. He firmly believed that you were born, you lived and then you died. We “debated” this a million times. So, was this him telling me he was wrong about his side of the debate, or is this just a clock that gave up the ghost at a “coincidental” time?
