We stood at the airport gate like stiff awkwardly placed mannequins waiting to be staged. Only, we had been set and placed.  Years of perceived not understanding stood like a wall placed in the center of the Grand Canyon. The cavern was enough to persuade any father and daughter that amends were impossible. The wall in the center of the cavern was confirmation that a new beginning was even more unlikely. Odd, how appendages like hands and arms, that add such quality and vitality of life, can feel so totally useless.

The whisper was vivid- the cavern between us was real. The wall, however, was only a wall in my mind’s eye. “Change your perspective little one” was the gentle nudge. Suddenly I saw it. The wall could be laid down atop the cavern and made into a bridge. No, we could not deny the years carved into the cavern. But we could start afresh and walk across the bridge. I do not know how the whisper works, but useless appendages trusted the vision and we exchanged a heartfelt hug and a shared “I love you.” No need to peer downward into the cavern. We had a bridge and that was enough.

And so, on this Father’s Day and Summer Solstice, I celebrate nature which carves both caverns and the trees and rocks that build bridges. I celebrate nature’s ability to heal and renew all who will listen and tend with care tender buds of all forms waiting to bloom. I celebrate all fathers and children who have no caverns to traverse. I celebrate all fathers and children who have found their bridge. I celebrate all fathers and children still wondering what to do and how. No advice can I offer for the latter, only the celebration of what I know can be.

Happy Father’s Day Daddy – a grand bridge it was. You are missed.

 And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was greater than the risk it took to blossom ~ Anais Nin