The Cart that Daddy Built

Melvin gets a ride in the cart that Daddy built.

Yesterday I worked in LaMama’s* yard. I love gardening and yard work, and they can’t manage their big country yard anymore. So most weeks, I spend a few hours pulling weeds, trimming hedges, and mowing. Or whatever is needed. I enjoy doing it, it’s good exercise, and they need the help, so everybody wins.

Recently, I re-discovered an old cart at LaMama’s. It is one that Daddy built back in the late 60’s or early 70’s. Daddy passed away more than 15 years ago, in June of ’98, and I miss him still. Especially when I come across an item that is quintessentially Daddy. Like this old wooden cart that connects to a riding mower. He designed it so that the back lifts off for easy removal of the load, and the tires are the hard kind that don’t easily rot and don’t have to be inflated. Some forty years later, it is still rolling, still very useful and functional. As I worked with it yesterday, I thought of Daddy designing the cart and cutting each board, and all the times he must have used it through the years. After I hauled away the debris from my afternoon of gardening, I loaded Melvin into it and took him for a ride. Melvin settled down for the tour like he had been doing it his whole life. I wish Daddy could have seen it. Who knows? Maybe he did.

*Mama and step-dad, Lamar.

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