“Home was a back porch swing where I would sit and mom would sing Amazing Grace, While she hung out the clothes…
And its much to late to listen to the words of wisdom that my daddy said.
The straight and narrow path he showed me turned into a thousand winding roads, My footsteps carry me away, but in my mind I’m always going home.” —- Lyrics from the song “Home”, by Joe Diffie
They say that “Home is where the heart is!”, and over the years I’ve come to realize just how true that old saying really is. Like most youngsters, when I was growing up I simply couldn’t wait to “get old enough” to start making my own decisions and live my own life. After all, as a teenager I already knew everything I needed to know in order to make it big out in the world on my own. I didn’t need my daddy – or anyone else for that matter – giving me advice or telling me how to avoid the mistakes they’d made in life. I was a teenager – I knew it all!
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, I found myself at that golden age where my life would forever be my own; I was finally free to rise as high as my know-it-all intellect would allow me to rise without having to listen to what dad and mom told me anymore. I was free, and the world was going to be my oyster! And so I set out upon a journey that I just knew would end in happiness and a life of leisure…
But something unexpected happened along the way. I found myself messing up at every turn, making many of the same mistakes that my “dumb” daddy had told me that he had made (and told me how to avoid). Of course it was all bad luck in my case, I had it all figured out. When my luck turned around, things would start going in the right direction and I would show dad that I really knew how to make it big – without his dumb advice thank you very much!
The funny thing was, my luck never turned around. It seemed that I kept making mistake after mistake, following in my daddy’s footsteps even as I was trying my best to take a different route. I couldn’t figure out why my path to the good life was taking me in circles. It all seemed so clear in my mind. Then one day it struck me: I was making the same mistakes my daddy did because I hadn’t been willing to listen to his stories and advice. You see, dad never really wanted to run his children’s lives at all, including mine. He just wanted us to learn from his mistakes so that we could avoid making our own - and have a better life than he had.
Now everything truly was crystal clear: My daddy was no dummy. He was in fact one of the most intelligent men I ever knew, but he had made mistakes in life that kept him from reaching his full potential. He gave us kids all of that “dumb advice” because he wanted us to be happy and do our very best best in life with the unique tools and abilities that God had so generously blessed us with.
My wonderful dad passed away almost seven years ago, and what I wouldn’t give to be able to sit down with him just one more time and talk about “the weather”, “those crooked politicians”, or just anything at all that happened to be on his mind. But most of all, I would love to be able to ask him for a little advice every now and then. And one day I’ll be able to – when I finally make it “home”.
“And its much to late to listen to the words of wisdom that my daddy said, The straight and narrow path he showed me turned into a thousand winding roads, My footsteps carry me away, but in my mind I’m always going home.”