Lightning Memories

Sitting at home on a late Sunday afternoon, a boy was fixed at the commercial that came on the television. On the commercial was family sitting around their kitchen table. The brother and sister looked at each other and sighed, and the mother looked discouraged. The father took all of this in, and was struck with an idea. The picture changed from the family’s home to a roller coaster ride, the kids having huge grins on their faces. The last caption was read by a deep-outside voice, “Are you a Great American Dad?” The commercial was for Six Flags over Great America in Illinois.

The boy who sat watching the commercial was determined. He had to go to Great America. He had heard so much about it from his friends, and the commercial told it all, if his dad was a Great American Dad, they’d definitely go. Bingo, he was in!

“So, is daddy a Great American Dad?”

Immediately and with no hesitation, the boy’s mother replied, “He absolutely is!” For a moment, a very, very brief moment, joy struck the young boys heart. ‘Yes!’ he thought. Then, his brain caught up with him and the tone in his mother’s voice indicated there was an addition to the revelation she told him. “And he DOES NOT need to take you kids to Great America to be a great Dad!” What a dedicated and strong woman, mother, wife, companion and friend she was.

Oh, how the boy will remember what a Great American Dad is. He didn’t know why then, but after over fifteen years to dwell upon it, he does now.

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I haven’t thought about that story in a long time. It seems that as the older you get the dimmer memories fade. Every once in a while, like lightning striking, flashes of brilliant thoughts reappear in a mind’s eye. These are the ideas that should be written down; these are the memories that a father passes on to his son, a grandfather his grandson.

The Great American Story. It could start anywhere, because like life, it is a circular pattern. There is no ending, no beginning. There is just a continuance of lightning memories. I am proud to say my lightning memories are heavily concentrated with the subject of my family. And the parents are the pinnacle to my family. Mother and father, king and queen, the tops, however you want to state it.