f a m i ly | C O A C H A S H L E Y
"You’re a good, good Father, it’s who you are, it’s who you are. And I’m loved by you, it’s who I am, it’s who I am…"
I
love the way Chris Tomlin sings this song the best.
too. Like the many kickball games we shared, the making of
I absolutely love the lyrics of this song. They ring true to
houses with pine straws, even the times we would just sit and
my heart each time I hear them. For it took me too long to
be with each other. Those were the days!
realize that my one True Father was there all the time. One thing I remembered each night was all of my cousins I lived with my grandparents until I was 7 years old. They
going home to their moms and dads. Each night I went home
were so good to me. Every need I had was always met. I was
to my grandparents. I do not recall ever asking or thinking
like their 10th child. I was and am their favorite of all 40+
about where my dad was until I was older.
grandkids, and I let my cousins know it whenever I can. I rub it in really good when we are all together. Mom would
I met my dad at a carwash when I was 12-years-old. He lived
come to visit me often. I would spend summers with her
in Seattle, Washington at the time. I remember seeing him
until I was 7 or 8 and I moved to Luf kin to live with her.
for the f irst time and thinking about how handsome he was.
My heart was happy to be with her, but I was also sad to be
To this day he is still a very handsome man.
leaving my grandparents, too. As time went on, my dad was back in Seattle and I was in As a child, my cousins and I would all get on the same bus
Texas. I longed to be able to see him, talk to him more, and
to get to school and take the same bus to return home. We’d
spend time with him. This never happened. Sometimes he
get our work done and then it was ‘under the tree time’.
would make promises to come and see me, and I remember
Although ‘under the tree’ no longer looks as it did when we
always getting my hopes up because ‘He was really coming
were kids, it’s still a place that holds lots of memories for all
this time’. He never did.
of us. As a teenage girl there was a hole in my heart. There was For instance, this is where Ruthie was hit in the mouth with
always a missing piece. I thought it was that of a loving
a baseball bat and I fell on an old bike tire and a screw left a
father. I was missing a loving father in my life to stand
nice scar on my lower abdomen. There were fun memories,
beside me, take me to the father/daughter dances, threaten
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