Daddy and Me: Sweet Memories

This is one of my favorite pictures of my Daddy and me.  From the moment I can remember anything at all, this picture epitomizes the feeling I got from Daddy:  Safe and Loved.

My Daddy graduated from this life March 21, 2008.  He gained eternal life, but I lost my Daddy.  Amidst the sadness of today, I keep chuckling at some of the memories of my beloved Daddy, James Joshua Noble, Sr.  I’m sharing a few with you my friends.  Daddy was so funny.

I remember being a child, ready to eat, but having to wait until each person around the dinner table said a bible verse AND where it was found.  That where part was what prolonged things as my siblings and I scrambled to remember. Lol.   But as an adult, I’ve had some of those verses quickly come back to me in a time of trouble and need.

I remember wanting to crawl under the table with shame when my friends would come over.  And as we would be heading out the door or back to my room to talk girl talk, music, and pop stars, Daddy would greet the person with “Hi, nice to meet you.  I hope you have accepted Christ as your personal Savior.  If not, anytime you need to talk, I’ll be glad to tell you all about God’s wonderful gift.”  And while the teenaged me was horrified, I have been awed when some of those friends have told me later that what Daddy said had at least started them thinking.  And, unbeknownst to me at the time, some had even gone back and had discussions with Daddy on the bible, salvation, etc. 

I remember sitting in the living room with boys who had come to court (or whatever they call it these days) and talking the night away.  You know how time flies when you’re having fun.  If the young man hadn’t had the sense enough to leave by midnight, I would hear the creak of the living room door open and Daddy would come innocently walking through as if going to the kitchen for some water.  He would look at us sitting on the couch, do an exaggerated double take at his watch, and say a long drawn out Good MORNING, even if it was only 12:01am.  And I was a junior in college!  The nerve of him...lol.  But it taught me to demand respect and respectable hours when I grew up and got my own apartment.

I remember when I worked in Charlotte, I was driving back home from visiting my parents in Columbia one night.  When I got to a rest stop near Rock Hill, I stopped to use the restroom, went back outside and the car wouldn’t start.  I called my roadside emergency company and then called my parents.  I was talking to Momma and Daddy must have heard her say the word “car” because suddenly it was him on the phone asking where I was and was there anybody around.  There wasn’t, but I said I wasn’t scared.  But deep down he must have known.  Anyway I told him I had called roadside and they should be there shortly.  Soon I saw headlights, but it wasn’t the tow trunk.  Daddy flew that car into the parking lot on what seemed like two wheels, with Momma holding onto the dashboard for dear life.  Somehow he had beaten the tow truck there.  My knees buckled I was so happy to see them.

Create loving memories with your families while you have them.  It’s awful when they are gone from this earth.  But thanks be to God for the wonderful times to look back upon and rejoice.  The cherished moments can turn the pain into laughter, and helps ease the way a little, like salve upon a wound.  Thanks Daddy for everything, and much love always.