To take it in a stride.

As a first grade kid the best part of my day would be hearing our car roll up to
the front gate , honk and then stop at the same spot everyday at 530 pm.The next 20 seconds were enough for me to climb the window till Dad stepped out and then wave at him.
From my second grade it would be different,his transfer meant I would have to wait not for 12 hours, but a week before I could open the door and hide behind it to greet him,
the highlight of my day would be waiting for that call from his mobile phone at night or from the office in the day .
For quite a few years this was the only thing that would come to my mind had
anyone mentioned ‘Dad’s work’ ,because that is what his work meant to me,
when would it be over and be back home.
But when he did get transfered back in town it was all a blur, between him leaving for work without disturbing a soul in the wee hours to when he
would be back home and ask me about school, but we NEVER discussed work.
Although in the six years that he chose to live by himself in another city so
that my lifestyle didn’t suffer,I would often ask him more out of childish rage than curiosity,why does it have to be you ? why not someone else ? why do you always have to go back ?
I felt he would hide behind the curtain of those same words he always said “It’s my duty”.

Now that I’m but a few months off doing some ‘work’ of myself do I realize that it IS true ,
there exists a curtain , a curtain between the stage of your professional life
and the seats of your personal life .
And to hide behind that curtain was not to run or shy away from responsibilities but its the-
Hard-work that he chose to put in for something larger than himself , to not
complain about the nature of the job or the demands of it but to grind thyself
so that it pays later
Integrity that was in him , flawless and filled to the brim , how simple is it
to call in a day sick for the heck of it,to not be proactive at work rather just
be present , but that according to him was a crime .
Dedication and Drive of his motive ,which were visible every time he headed back to work the next day , be it after a hell of a previous day at the office or just after his vacation with us, nothing changed when it came to duty .
Lastly,
Experience that he and invariably all of us gained
today ,after nearly 40 years into the grind I am sure there have been moments
when I wasn’t the only one who might have asked “why me? why us?”
but it is this very experience that Dad carries out and cherishes,
it is the same lessons of time that he has passed on to me that act as a base
for all decisions that I make .
“What shall thou sow,that shallth thou reap”
some choose to call it a struggle,I call it a journey , and this journey was not
for Dad alone but for all of us with him.
Though he might not say it but I do and I mean it that we are proud of
everything that you have achieved dad,for not just giving me childhood free of worry but to leave on a self sufficient position for all of us .
I don’t know whether you will choose to rest your oars now but I am sure
whatever you do will be the right thing and will set new ideals for me.