TO HEAVEN AND BACK

See this man in the picture??

OMG. Seeing him was one of THE freakiest yet heart warming, but still… freakiest moments of my entire life. I kind of shudder still, thinking about it, but I just couldn’t beLIEVE what happened to me about 2 weeks ago. In Denny’s restaurant, no less.

I went there with my girlfriend because we both decided we wanted breakfast for lunch and Denny’s was the only place where we knew we could get eggs, pancakes, etc. at 12:30 We ordered, we got our food, and then bingo. It happened. Right smack in my line of sight, a couple of  tables beyond, who should I see, but uh…

MY FATHER!! HIS SPITTING IMAGE. HIS EXACT CLOTHING. HIS EXACT POSTURE. AT 86 YEARS OLD! SITTING THERE, HAVING BREAKFAST, TOO!

I could NOT stop staring at him!! I TRIED looking at Betsy. I TRIED conversing with her. But… I couldn’t. I HAD to stare at my Dad, instead! To make matters worse… I then became addicted to taking pictures of him over and over again. I mean… really.

WHO THE FUCK GOES OUT TO EAT AND SEES THEIR FATHER ALIVE AND WELL, 12 YEARS AFTER HE’S PASSED AWAY?? Absolutely nobody does!

Well, nobody except me, that is. Talk about from earth to heaven and then back to earth again! Holy shit. It was NUTS. So much so that while my stomach was pretty much jumping all over the place, I just couldn’t stand it any longer. I had to finally go over and actually TALK TO MY DAD.

So lickety split, as if my feet had a mind of their own, I headed over to this stranger and proceeded to tell him how I could not stop looking at him for the past 25 minutes. I told him how he looked exactly like my Dad, how I just had to come speak to him, and how I loved seeing him. At which point, the guy sweetly took my hand and kissed it twice. I was so thrilled yet so sad seeing my Dad once again! IT WAS AMAZING. And… startling, too.

We spoke a few moments, and he introduced me to his wife, whose bright white hair reminded me of my Mom’s, but not nearly as beautiful as she was. She too, was very sweet to me, which, while my reincarnated Dad made we weepy, his wife made me smile. I was soooo happy I had gone over to speak to them both.

Of couse now, I could shoot myself altogether for not getting his name, etc. for I would LOVE to speak to Dad over and over again. I have a feeling that every Friday I had better get my ass over to Denny’s just to see more of my Dad. Downing a couple of blueberry pancakes wouldn’t hurt, either. 

All I can tell you is: I can only pray everyone in this world has a chance like I did, to see their parent just one more time. It will make you remarkably queasy for sure, but will also make you unbelievably jubilant at the same time. I can’t even explain the juxtaposition. I just know I was thrilled at this one last chance to again, see Dad one more time. 

It makes me cry, knowing how much I miss both him and my Mother. I would love their being able to see me at 71 years of age. If only. Anyway, I loved both my parents dearly and will miss them for ever and always. For now, however…

Thank you Dad for visiting me at Denny’s! I will never forget it for the rest of my life. Then again… how can I be SURE this wasn't my real Dad? Easy. Were he actually my Father... he would have totally picked up my check!