A Magical Surprise Gift

I must lay the groundwork for the unfolding of this super surprise. First of all, I had two parents that were ordered and delivered perfectly according to my own specifications. They were darn near perfect. I suppose one of the very few things about my Dad that could have used just a teeny bit of improvement was in his rare releasing of compliments. My Dad passed away two years ago and I have often wondered if he had been proud of me. I do remember him bragging to his friends now and then on the phone (when he thought I wasn't listening) about something I had done of noteworthy attention. But that was when I was a kid. As we grow up we still need our parents approval and I did, indeed, received it from my Mom. Dad was just a little less verbal.
Well, the other day I had re-connected an old phone that I hadn't used in a while. It doubles as a fax machine and two days ago when I entered the room, I could hear a beeping that signaled that I had received a fax. There wasn't any fax that had come through so to stop the beeping noise, I pressed what I thought was the STOP button. A mechanical voice came on saying "YOU HAVE ONE MESSAGE..."

I thought, "that's funny because I haven't used this answering machine in probably four years"

It was my Dad's voice. He had never liked answering machines and if he left a message, it was usually very short and to the point. In his last two years of his life his voice had lost a lot of it's luster and zest. But this message was Dad speaking in an excited, strong voice and my best guess is that he had read an email that I had sent him telling him my progress in selling some thingamajig....

His message was ~ "Hi, Honey! That is great news! Wow! Six sales in a row! I can't believe it..I mean, one or two, but SIX? That is great. I am so proud of you.
...give Bailey (my dog) some extra turkey to celebrate! I'll talk to you soon!"

I stood in stunned silence as a couple of tears made their way down my cheeks.

Thanks, Pop. I'm proud of you too. I can only imagine the trouble you went to for that message to finally get to me. Better late than never.

I won't be erasing that message any time soon, for sure.