I know I’m supposed to do a write-up and an honest review of some book that I’ve been going through, and yes, I have something prepared.
But this is the first anniversary of my father-in-law’s funeral. He passed away in January, 2022, but was buried in February, 2022.
I just wanted to share an anecdote of something that happened just a few months before, to show how beautiful his mind was.
I had bought a mug. It was on a deep discount (because I’m cheap like that) but still a decent mug without a crack. That’s all I care about: something that will hold my morning coffee and that is not that bad looking, also for a decent price. So I found it and bought it.
Because it had a little layer of dust on it (from sitting on the shelves) I put it in the kitchen sink when I got home. I had a few things to do elsewhere in the house and when I got back my father-in-law was holding my mug up at various angles and marveling at something…
One thing you need to know about my father-in-law is that he was always on the lookout for a reaction from people. He would do outlandish things or say outlandish things and wait for the response and laugh. I thought this was one of those moments, but there was no one around else downstairs. And he had his back to me.
I wondered what could be at the bottom of my mug for him to be gazing so intently at it. So I came in, ‘Hey, what’s up?’ ‘Man, I don’t know how they do this…’ ‘What?’ ‘There are birds flying at the bottom of this mug! Exquisite detail!’
I look closer. It’s a slight flaw, which was probably why the mug was on discount.
I take it to my mother-in-law, who is German. ‘Look! What’s this?’ ‘Oh, it’s a bit of dirt!’
I take it to my sister-in-law, who is very detailed-oriented and a bit of a perfectionist. ‘Look! What’s this?’ ‘Oh, it’s a mistake! Can you return it?’
There is a saying that we always find what we look for. Every morning, when I get to end of my coffee, I’m reminded that there is beauty in anything if you’ll only open your mind to the possibility that it could be there.
I’ll see you next week with a book review. In the meantime, you can visit here to read more about my father-in-law: https://remembering-paul.blogspot.com
