Carole Smith

I discovered the end... I knew it existed, but it never seemed quite real. Or maybe… that it was just for others....   But now, it holds my father. I can sense him waiting. I can see him standing …in the light and I know that it is peaceful, …it is real.   And that my time is not to be taken for granted …as it will end for me too.   I discovered the end. And oh, how sweet it has made each day …anew. The summer of 2010, right around Father’s Day, my dad got very sick.   Father’s Day had always been a challenge for me, and I could never find the right card that expressed my true sentiments for him.   My dad left our family when I was three and half years old.   We had a long-distance father-daughter relationship, at best.   I was raised by my mom, a single woman who tried her best to take care of three children.   Some years, I would send my mom a Father’s Day card, in jest, but also out of respect for everything she did and s