"Love and fear. Everything the father of a family says inspires one or the other."
~ Joseph Joubert ~
My Dad never really seemed to approve of me,
And some of my choices made him angry
And withdraw.
Over and over we missed each other, basically,
But even as a girl, I felt a kind of intimacy with him when I explored his
Drawer of handkerchiefs and cufflinks,
And when he died,
They became mine.
The handkerchiefs are soft and white, and have his initials embroidered on them,
And through this pandemic,
their soft cotton has soothed me,
serving as my mask.
The exchange of love we experience is both subtle and profound.
