Surprise from the past...

When I was born we were a family of five living in a small single trailer in my grandmother's backyard. Being that my great-grandmother passed away just before I was born my parents eventually acquired the homestead and we moved down the hill, into the garage (being far more spacious than the trailer) and my Daddy got to work on upgrading the house so that we could live in it.

Over the next two years Daddy did everything from stripping the stairs, painting, enlarging the fireplace, building book shelves, adding a whole new kitchen with beautiful wooden beams overhead, and putting in a powder room and laundry where the old walk in oven used to be.

That was a long time ago.

For years I've been on my mom to allow me to redo the powder room and laundry. She has finally given her consent. I've chosen the colors, new fixtures, toilet, sink, flooring, refinished my great-grand father's old shaving mirror from the early 1900's and finally... got the contractor.

First the powder room was completed. It looks amazing, just needs a bit of detail work that I intend to get to shortly.

We are now working on the laundry room... or I should say he is. As much as I want to watch his every move in order to learn, this job is beyond my skills and I try to stay out of his way.

That being said... he came to get me and asked if my father's name was Donald. He had found something and wanted to show me.



My mother's name is also Lydia. Unfortunately the rest of the message continues under the wall and into the powder room where it was not necessary to go that far down with the demolition.

Touching my Daddy's words touched my heart. I took photos so I could show my mother. She was never aware of his writing the message. The "bilt in" date was easy... it would be 1963. It was the PSA that took a little more thought.

At first my mother was a little perplexed and then between the both of us... all the pieces came together. Daddy was a religious man... when I suggested that it was the beginning of the word Psalms, she looked at her wedding ring and simply said, "I know."

When they were married he had their wedding bands engraved with Psalms 48:14.
For this God is our God forever and ever; he will be our guide even unto death. He was blessing the house and all those who would reside within.

Post script: That which I found endearing, was that when my father passed away he and I were in the midst of redoing my bedroom. When contractors were hired, before they put the paneling on the walls, under the window I wrote a message on the plywood to Daddy and left a date, 1976. It must be genetic.

It was difficult to allow the words to be covered again. It is so rare that I encounter a piece of my father. It was such a gift.