MY FATHER'S TOMATOES

He tended his tomatoes with the love and care of someone who worshipped the earth.  When he brought them inside from his bountiful garden, your mouth would start salivating with anticipation of the first bite of the earthy sweet-smelling juicy red tomato.  My daughter Marcy reminded me of this memory of him when she brought home some 'organic' tomatoes and commented that the smell was like her Paw-Paw's tomatoes. 

Sadly, this world will never again taste his delicious tomatoes, and it fills me with great sorrow that he's rapidly slipping away.  Oh, he'll recognize you at first, but then again, he's puzzled because you've 'changed' a lot.  He still thinks of us when we were young, then he lapses into real and imagined memories from long ago that he thinks happened yesterday. Aging can be cruel, but dementia is the bigger hell. 

So...it's today that I honor him and thank him for his gifts from the earth.




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